Kennedy family reacts to Trump changing Kennedy Center name

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on Dec 19, 2025

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Relatives of former President John F. Kennedy aren’t happy that President Donald Trump is adding his own name to The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

Signage referring to the Washington, D.C. cultural institution as the Kennedy Center was altered Friday to reflect that the building is now called The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

A Kennedy Center board handpicked by Trump voted Thursday in favor of adding the current president’s name. Numerous relatives of the 35th President took exception to Trump’s latest maneuver.

Among them is JFK’s grandnephew and former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III.

“This is not just another building. It’s not a skyscraper in New York City. It’s not something whose name is up for auction,” he told CBS News. “It is a living legacy to a man who gave his life for our country… one would hope that any American, let alone a president, would understand that.”

John Kennedy was assassinated while greeting supporters in Dallas in 1963. Two months later, an Act of Congress signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson renamed the center “as a living memorial” to the slain president, according to an official website for what’s now called the Trump Kennedy Center.

JFK’s niece Maria Shriver expressed similar sentiments.

“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” she posted on social media. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.”

Shriver add that the “weird” name change marks a new low for the current president.

The 35th president’s niece Kerry Kennedy blamed the Trump administration for “repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians, and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better” in a social media post arguing the name of the 47th President “should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s.”

JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, who’s running to represent New York’s 12th congressional district, acknowledged the renaming of the Kennedy Center in a social media post promoting his candidacy.

“Our campaign represents everything Trump can’t stand or defeat,” he wrote.

Legal challenges to the center’s name change may well ensue.