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Those in charge at the Kennedy Center have been accused by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, of purposely allowing the Washington, D.C., venue to languish into a “lifeless husk” by not resuming regular shows and programming.
Beatty, an ex officio board member of the Kennedy Center, initially filed the lawsuit against President Donald Trump in December 2025, when the board decided to install signage displaying his name alongside Kennedy’s on the building.
According to a Friday court filing, Beatty’s legal team argued that the current board, with Trump as chairman, is in violation of a May court order by “refusing to take any steps to maintain the Center’s operations, and will effectively close the Center as a performing arts venue come July 5, 2026.”
“They plan to turn the Kennedy Center into a lifeless husk,” Beatty’s lawyers wrote.
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Lawyers for the Kennedy Center responded by saying: “The Court’s order did not affirmatively require the Board to reschedule programming that had previously been cancelled or to seek new programming.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Kennedy Center and the White House for additional comment.
The order from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper prevented the Kennedy Center from initiating its planned two-year closure for renovations. Cooper also ordered Trump’s name be taken off the building, which happened last weekend.
Cooper’s 94-page order last month did not explicitly say that shows must immediately resume, given that there are “at least some plans to restart rehearsals, performances and educational programming.”
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He did say that the board “bears an affirmative duty to carry out the Center’s programming and maintain a memorial to President Kennedy. It may not simply stop putting on shows altogether.”
The Kennedy Center said its management would begin presenting recommendations for plans to reopen.
The venue’s lawyers said the board is considering several options, including a full closure with no programming, a partial closure that would keep some areas open to the public and allow performances in unaffected spaces, and a phased repair plan that would revive a full programming schedule.
A vote on these options, which they say have not been finalized, will be held in mid-July, Kennedy Center lawyers said.
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The battle over the Kennedy Center began in February 2025, shortly after Trump was inaugurated for a second time as president. He replaced several trustees on the board, while also appointing himself a trustee.
The new Trump-allied board then elected him chair, enabling him to fire the previous president of the center, Deborah Rutter. In a speech in May 2025, he claimed that under Rutter’s leadership, the board “wasted millions and millions of dollars and handed us a budget deficit of $26 million.”
“In addition, the programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI, and inappropriate shows. We had some very inappropriate shows, to put it—I think, to put it very nicely,” Trump added.
Also in May 2025, the new board stripped all 23 ex officio members of voting rights. Members of this category include notable Democrats, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Trump administration officials — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Education Secretary Linda McMahon among them.
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In February of this year, Trump announced the two-year closure on Truth Social, which was later blocked as a result of Beatty’s lawsuit.
The saga culminated on June 13, when workers began removing Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center. The sign previously read “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts.”
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