Trump threatens to keep Kennedy Centre shut if his name not added

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday (September 15, 2026) to keep the Kennedy Centre closed for good after a judge ruled his name cannot be added to the famed arts institution's facade.

Mr. Trump said his hand-picked board voted "almost unanimously" to shut the venue immediately for emergency renovations, just a few hours after the federal judge's decision.

But he warned the "very large and complex" repairs at the building in Washington cannot begin until a higher court rules on whether the centre can be renamed after himself.

"If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place," Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social network.