The White House used dirty tricks to force a “unanimous” vote on renaming the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump, according to a congresswoman who serves on the arts center’s board of trustees.
In a statement released on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the center’s board of trustees had “just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.”
For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move. Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship. https://t.co/D1zGV7xiWV pic.twitter.com/npNvSIy6sV
— Rep. Joyce Beatty (@RepBeatty) December 18, 2025
But her claims were immediately undercut by Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a fellow board member, who said she was muted and had her objections “censored” by the administration when she attempted to speak out against the hostile rebrand.
“What you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center the Trump Center,” Beatty said in a video on X. “To be clear, I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions, and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted. Each time I tried to speak, I was muted.”
“This center, the Kennedy Center, was created by the Congress,” she added. “I think it’s important for us to know that this is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say.”
Accompanying the video was a statement in which Beatty claimed the rebrand was not even on the meeting’s agenda prior to the vote.
“For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move. Also, for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship,” she added.
Since assuming office in January, Trump has packed the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees with a slew of sycophants and loyalists, including second lady Usha Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and her deputy, Dan Scavino. Trump himself also sits on the board.
The Kennedy Center is a federal building, which means it cannot be renamed without the approval of Congress, regardless of the board’s wishes. Nevertheless, following Thursday night’s vote, the center immediately rebranded itself as the “Trump-Kennedy Center” on its website, infuriating several members of the Kennedy clan.
“The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law,” former Rep. Joe Kennedy III wrote on X. “It can no sooner be named than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Speaking more about the incident on CNN, Beatty described the meeting as a “mockery” of boardroom etiquette conducted by “criminals” with “no regard for the rule of law.”
The vote was preceded by “ten to fifteen minutes” of people laughing, giggling, and singing as they had no idea how to operate the equipment, and appeared to take place at the home of billionaire Steve Wynn, whose wife, Andrea, also sits on the board.
“It was a farce,” said Beatty. “It was a dog-and-pony show to Donald Trump… he claimed the whole Kennedy Center was crumbling and he came in and saved it. It’s all very disappointing.”
Sergio Gor, a Trump aide who currently serves as the U.S. ambassador to India, was reportedly the one to put forth the motion, The Independent claims. The motion was then seconded by Pam Bondi and approved ‘unanimously’ by the rest of the board.
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