WASHINGTON (7News) — Crews have begun efforts to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C. on the final day of a federal judge’s deadline.
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Workers were spotted setting up scaffolding in front of the entrance on Friday, and crews remained there hours after a judge denied the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees’ last-minute request to hold off removing the name.
Storms around D.C. halted the work of construction crews, while a federal appeals court judge rejected a second request for an emergency stay by the Board. Crews had returned to the site at around 7:40 p.m.
The Center had already instructed its employees to begin removing the branding following a federal judge’s late May order. Trump’s name was removed from the Center’s website and YouTube channel.
On TikTok and Instagram, the handle still reads “TKC” for “Trump Kennedy Center,” but display names for those accounts have reverted to “The Kennedy Center.”
Despite crews briefly halting work due to weather, a crowd at the Center has grown as people watch to see Trump’s name come down.
A crowd outside the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2026, as crews are expected to take down President Donald Trump’s name. (Jade Lawson/7News)
“You see a diversity of people that are here that really care about the arts, and that’s something really special to see, actually,” said Lauren Huggett, a D.C. resident among those waiting outside the Kennedy Center.