The board of the Kennedy Center has voted to rename the performing arts centre the Trump-Kennedy Center, according to the White House.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media the board’s vote was unanimous and due to “the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building”.
Leavitt also congratulated President John F. Kennedy and said “this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur”.
The move would be highly controversial, particularly in Washington DC where the centre has been an iconic landmark since constructed and named for Kennedy.
Shorty after taking office, President Donald Trump fired all the centre’s board members, and replaced them with allies, who then voted to make Trump chairman of the board.
The president secured about $257 million in congressional funding to pay for major renovations and other costs at the venue.
The idea for a national performing arts centre began in the 1950s and when Kennedy, the 35th president, was assassinated in 1963, the venue was named in his honour.
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