WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Workers began removing President name from the facade of the Kennedy Center early Saturday, hours after a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove references to Trump from the building and other aspects of the iconic performing arts venue鈥檚 operations.
Scaffolding was erected Friday around a section of the building that includes Trump鈥檚 name, but shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Center asked a judge to extend the deadline until noon Eastern Time on Saturday because of thunderstorms that had swept through the Washington area, causing a delay.
In the filing, the Kennedy Center offered assurance that the 鈥渞emoval work is presently ongoing鈥� and would 鈥渃onclude in the early hours of the morning.鈥�
A few hours later, workers began covering the scaffolding with tarps before they eventually started taking down Trump’s name. They packed up and left the site around 3:30 a.m., though the tarps remained, leaving it impossible to determine if all the letters had been removed.
Dozens of people spent hours Friday on the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center taking pictures and cheering occasionally as they broke into chants of 鈥渢ake it down.鈥� Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio board member who sued to have Trump’s name removed from the building, was spotted at one point on the plaza.
Earlier Friday afternoon, a judge rejected a request to pause the court-ordered deadline. The institution appealed that ruling, an effort that was also rebuffed Friday evening.
After ignoring the Kennedy Center for much of his first term, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his return to office. Just a month into his second term, he and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. Trump’s name was quickly added to the building.
In his ruling that only Congress could make changes to the Kennedy Center’s name, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July and last for two years.
The Kennedy Center’s leadership argued in its appeal Friday that the renovation was badly needed and accused the lower court, in terms that seemed similar to Trump’s speech patterns, of interfering in the effort.
鈥淭he District Court is not allowing us to close in order to properly fix up and repair the Building, including potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below,鈥� according to the appeal. 鈥淚ndeed, total collapse!鈥�
Even as the Kennedy Center has fought efforts to remove Trump’s name from the building, it has taken steps to comply with Cooper’s initial ruling.
A June 4 from the Kennedy Center鈥檚 Office of General Counsel said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as 鈥淭he John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts鈥� or 鈥淜ennedy Center.鈥�
The Kennedy Center鈥檚 website has dropped Trump’s name. And an earlier email offering ticket packages for the June 28 Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony came from the Kennedy Center without including Trump鈥檚 name.
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Associated Press journalists Anna Johnson, Mark Sherman and Emily Wang in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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