Trump Threatens to Keep Kennedy Center Closed Unless His Name Is Added to Facade

Donald Trump has threatened to prevent the Kennedy Center from reopening unless his name is added to the building's facade, according to Le Monde. The US president took control of the Washington cultural institution shortly after returning to the White House in 2025, installing loyalists on its board of directors. The standoff has now escalated into an explicit closure threat tied to the naming of the building. The Kennedy Center, a flagship performing arts venue in the US capital, has been at the center of a political dispute since the board was reshuffled. Trump's demand that his name appear on the front of the building has become a condition for its reopening, the report states. The institution's fate remains unresolved as of September 16, 2026, the date of the Le Monde video report. No reopening date has been announced.