Hundreds of protesters used their bodies to form a human chain around the Kennedy Center Friday, protesting President Donald Trump’s plans for the famed venue.
In video footage obtained by C-SPAN, rows of protesters locked hands while blocking the entrance to the main building of the Kennedy Center, which abruptly closed on Tuesday following a board vote.
“Keep your tiny hands off,” the crowd at the rally repeatedly chanted as the sun set in Washington, D.C. Friday night. The chant soon pivoted to a more simple demand of: “Hands off!”
Watch the footage below.
“Hands off!” “Hands Around the Kennedy Center” rally in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/o2g10JJNAz
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 19, 2026
The protest event, called “Hands Around the Kennedy Center” and organized by the Hands Off the Arts advocacy group, took place Friday after Trump threatened to demolish the storied institution named for late President John F. Kennedy Jr. The president’s threats came after a federal judge blocked the latest attempt to add his name to the facade, prompting the Trump-appointed board to vote to close the venue citing structural safety concerns.
While a federal judge ordered Thursday that the Trump administration needed to provide at least 30 days’ notice before making any changes to the center, the president stood his ground, calling the venue “a dump” in the Oval Office Friday.
“The place is a dump. It’s been a dump for years. It’s lost money for years. I can turn it around, fix it,” Trump told reporters earlier in the day. “But if I do the job, I think the Trump administration … should be recognized.”
He previously noted that the Kennedy Center may be “ripped down,” with the president later being photographed looking at what appeared to demolition information.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center defended Wednesday that “nothing is being demolished,” adding that “the media that is saying that because no one has ever said that coming from the institution.”
Nonetheless, the board and Trump have faced an immense amount of scrutiny amid the ongoing legal war, with Kerry Kennedy, sister of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., notably blasting the venue’s closure as a “tragedy.”
“Well, this is a tragedy. You know, the American people love the Kennedy Center,” Kennedy told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday. “They love the arts. They understand what’s going on. They see the corruption of this. There is not a financial issue here. President Trump has said they have $250 million ready to hand over tomorrow. He’s just withholding it because he wants his name on the building.”
She added: “This is like so many other things that Trump has touched. It’s a bankruptcy because he adds his name to it.”
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