Overview
- President Trump posted on Truth Social that the slate of Kennedy Center Honors nominees will be announced on Wednesday after he quipped about a “Trump/Kennedy Center” rebrand.
- The upcoming honorees will be the first selected since Trump dismissed the previous board, installed himself as chairman and signaled plans to reshape the center’s honors and programming.
- Rep. Bob Onder has introduced legislation to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the “Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts,” and a House Appropriations Committee amendment would rename the Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump.
- Jack Schlossberg and other Kennedy family members point to a 1983 federal law barring new memorials or plaques in the center’s public areas to oppose any renaming effort.
- CBS’s contract to broadcast the Honors expires after this year’s ceremony, and Trump’s proposed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” includes $257 million in funding to renovate the center.