JFK’s Family Raises Questions Over Trump’s Plan To Close The Kennedy Center

President Donald Trump’s plan to shutter the Trump-rebranded Kennedy Center for two years isn’t sitting well with the family members of former President John F. Kennedy, for whom the Washington, D.C. performing arts venue was named.

Trump made the announcement late Sunday on his Truth Social platform, calling the existing structure “tired, broken, and dilapidated.” The venue, he said, will close on July 4 ― the nation’s 250th anniversary ― and will reopen shortly before he leaves office.

Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver, took to social media to share her suspicions about Trump’s real motivations.

“Translation: It has been brought to my attention that due to the name change (but nobody’s telling me it’s due to the name change), but it’s been brought to my attention that entertainers are canceling left and right, and I have determined that since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer,” she wrote Sunday on X. “I’ve determined that due to this change in schedule, it’s best for me to close this center down and rebuild a new center that will bear my name, which will surely get everybody to stop talking about the fact that everybody’s canceling… right?”

Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, who is currently running as a Democrat for a U.S. House seat in New York, echoed those sentiments but suggested the best way to honor JFK’s legacy was to seek retribution for Trump’s many other transgressions.

“Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building,” he wrote on X. “He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice, and restore the freedoms generations fought for.”

Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), who is JFK’s grandnephew, called Trump’s Kennedy Center plan “painful” – and a distraction.

“President Kennedy would remind us that it is not buildings that define the greatness of a nation. It is the actions of its people and its leaders,” he wrote on X. “So, do not be distracted from what this Administration is actually trying to erase: our connection, our community, and our commitment to the rights of all.”

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 as a “living memorial” to President Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. Trump’s takeover of the venue ― dubiously rebranded the Trump-Kennedy Center in December, prompting legal and legislative challenges ― sent shockwaves through the performing arts community.

Last month, composer Philip Glass and soprano Renée Fleming joined a growing list of artists to cancel their scheduled performances at the traditionally nonpartisan venue amid numerous reports of dwindling donations and declining ticket sales.

Richard Grenell, who Trump appointed as the center’s interim executive director last February, dismissed the criticism, arguing that the president had brought “common-sense” programming back to the venue.

“We have, for decades, watched the Kennedy Center be ignored by the very people who are now standing up and complaining about the rescuer,” Grenell told Fox News last month. “They’re complaining about the fireman who’s come in to literally rescue it and put out the fire.”