Kennedy Center tells staff to remove Trump’s name from documents

The general counsel’s office at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts told employees in a memo on Thursday to “immediately” remove President Donald Trump’s name from the institution’s branding on official forms and other documents. The mandate came days after a federal judge ruled that the board’s decision to add the president’s name to the building had been unlawful.

The memo gave staff at the center detailed instructions on the materials that needed to be updated, including social media accounts, email signatures and voicemail messages. The memo specified that indoor and outdoor signage with the barred name must be altered by June 12.

Center officials indicated last week that they were planning to appeal the judge’s decision, but one has yet to be filed. Trump was so incensed by the ruling that he threatened to walk away from oversight of the center, where he serves as chair.

Representatives for the center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“To comply with this order,” the memo said, “you must immediately change email signatures, letterhead and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’”

The center’s board, stacked with the president’s allies, voted in December to add his name to the institution. Trump’s name was put on the center’s marble facade in Washington less than a day later.

Last week, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of U.S. District Court in Washington ruled that only Congress has the power to change the name of the center, which was dedicated to Kennedy in 1964 after his assassination. Cooper ruled that the center must remove Trump’s name from the building and official materials within two weeks.