Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Last week, the board of the Kennedy Center – which Trump filled with allies – voted to rename the performing arts centre the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Beatty is one of several Democratic lawmakers designated as members of the board by US law. She claimed in her lawsuit that the renaming was illegal because changing the name requires “an act of Congress”.
The suit says Beatty had called into the meeting about the name change but was muted when she tried to voice her opposition.
Beatty argues that Congress intended for the centre to be a “living memorial” to former President Kennedy.
“[I]n scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic – the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement provided to the BBC, the White House said Trump had “stepped up” and saved the Kennedy Center “by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming”.
“As a result, the Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a historic move that marks a new era of success, prestige, and restored grandeur for one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said.
On Friday, the president’s name was added to the exterior of the building, and the centre’s website logo now reads “The Trump Kennedy Center”.
The name change has been met with harsh criticism, particularly in Washington DC where the centre has been an iconic landmark since it was built and named for Kennedy.
Musician Chuck Redd cancelled his annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the centre, a tradition spanning nearly two decades, in response to the renaming.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Redd has been hosting the annual Christmas Eve “Jazz Jams”at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts.
The Kennedy Center’s website lists the show as cancelled.
Construction began on a performing arts centre in the 1950s and after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Congress decided to name it after him.
Shortly after taking office, Trump fired a slew of the centre’s board members and replaced them with allies, who then voted to make him chairman of the board. His close adviser Richard Grenell became board president.
The centre’s board of trustees currently has 34 members appointed by Trump and 23 others designated as members by US law, according to the centre’s website.
Trump also secured about $257m (£190m) in congressional funding to pay for major renovations and other costs at the venue, saying it was in “bad shape”.
Several members of the Kennedy family took to social media to criticise the name change.
Joe Kennedy III, a former House member and grandnephew of the late president, said that “the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law”.
“It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,” he added.
