Kennedy Center Honors to be renamed as Trump-era changes continue

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: WTOP

Kennedy Center Honors to be renamed as Trump-era changes continue

Jimmy Alexander | [e-mail]
February 24, 2026, 10:28 AM

One of D.C.’s most well-known arts traditions is moving forward with a new name. ... Kennedy Center Interim President Richard Grenell told WTOP that the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony will be called “The Trump Kennedy Center Honors.”

Dancer and actor Fred Astaire, opera singer Marian Anderson, pianist Richard Rodgers, composer Arthur Rubinstein and choreographer George Balanchine were the inaugural class of Kennedy Center Honorees in 1978. Their careers were celebrated on a windy, wet day in December.

Donald Trump is the only president who did not attend the honors during his first term in office. ... But that changed in the first year of his second term. Trump not only attended the show, he personally picked the nominees, altered the medallion design and became the first president to host the televised CBS broadcast.

{snip}

While changes were made to the honors last year, Grenell said even more are coming in 2026, such as the start of a two-year $257 million renovation to the facility. ... But Grenell said the honors will not be canceled during the center’s closure. ... “It will definitely go forward,” he said. “It will probably just be in a smaller venue, which just means ticket demand will be even higher. This year’s honors, we raised more money and had more ticket demand than ever before.” ... While Grenell said the new location is “yet to be determined,” the name of the event is certain: “The Trump Kennedy Center Honors.”

Jimmy Alexander
Jimmy Alexander has been a part of the D.C. media scene as a reporter for DC News Now and a long-standing voice on the Jack Diamond Morning Show. Now, Alexander brings those years spent interviewing newsmakers like President Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney and Sean Connery, to the WTOP Newsroom.

[e-mail]

Read more: https://wtop.com/local/2026/02/kennedy-center-honors-to-be-renamed-as-trump-era-changes-continue/

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"The award for 'Best Picture of the Year' goes to ... 'Melania'!"

"Ticket demand is so great that we're moving to a smaller venue."

[Ocelot II]

1. Will anyone want one any more? Or, maybe since the awards will be given only to MAGA favorites,

like "Christian" pop musicians nobody has heard of, second-string country singers, and washed-up '80s leftovers like Kid Rock, it won't matter.

[Javaman]

13. the first one will be given to the orange pedo.

and probably no more after that or every one after that will also be given to the orange pedo

[EuterpeThelo]

2. Neither Tangerine Taint

Nor Bobby Brainworm deserve to have their name within a hundred yards of the name "Kennedy."

[flvegan]

3. Stop, stop! It's already dead. n/t

[LudwigPastorius]

17. !

[Blue_playwright]

4. it's retaliation

because the hollywood elites and folks with actual talent (not reality stars) ostracized him just like the NYC society and the NFL did.

It's all about revenge for him.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

5. Trump is bottomless pit for ego stroking

[Brother Buzz]

6. The Kennedy Center Honers videos on YouTube have already been rebranded "The Trump Kennedy Center Honors."

Oops, The Mark Twain awards have been rebranded, not The Kennedy Center Honers…..yet

Pissed me off when I saw the change. I believe it happened about the same time they stuck the asses name on the building.

https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=mark+twain+prize

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. Want to bet the vast Kennedy Family voice an opinion..

From Caroline on down. They should drive opposition to the takeover of this institution by TACO.

[Permanut]

8. A Kennedy Center Honor will now have the same value as a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[tanyev]

10. Probably the same suggested "donation" for all prospective recipients, too.

😒

[IcyPeas]

9. The Trump-Epstein Dumpster Awards

[mnhtnbb]

11. The Pedo Felon Mushroom Dick Awards

[RussBLib]

12. Everything Trump touches dies

….while he acts like he’s God’s gift to mankind. And Biden was the really horrible one.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

[Layzeebeaver]

14. I give this 24 months

then reversed

[Bengus81]

28. Make it Dems first priority in Jan 2029.

[moonshinegnomie]

15. When the dems retake the White House they should do this

1) award hundreds of thousands of Kennedy center honors making them pretty much irrelevant

2 ) create a new award and give it to everyone that had received an award before the orange pedo destroyed it

[progressoid]

16. Who would accept a prize with his name on it?

[mysteryowl]

18. So very wrong

[BradBo]

19. Trumps gonna ruin the Kennedy Center.

His contractors do as he says and that’s why all his casinos went bankrupt.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. He might have better contractors if he'd pay them more often

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. They've already changed the YouTube videos

posted by the center, even though most are from when it was called the Kennedy Center. Now, if you want to watch old Kennedy Center Honors videos, watch ones that aren't put up by the center, because

FUCK THEM!!!!

[Botany]

22. Didn't Caroline Kennedy and the other Kennedys tell Trump to stop using the Kennedy name?

Trump needs to be in jail not the White House.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. That he didn't attend the Honors ceremony in his 1st term shows how shallow his commitment is

and how awful it is that he's slapped his name on the building. And now on the Honors. He is the most philistine president the USA has ever had.

[PJMcK]

24. A mistake in the article

Arthur Rubinstein was a Pianist and Richard Rodgers (he wrote Oklahoma, The Sound of Music and many more musicals) was a Composer.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

26. Thanks. I hadn't noticed that.

It's a local article, from news, traffic, and weather giant WTOP. The author's email address is in the OP. He wouldn't mind hearing from you.

And good morning.

[PJMcK]

27. Good morning to you, too! (n/t)

[The Grand Illuminist]

25. All because we sat and did nothing about it.

The legacy is beyond repair and needs to be torn down completely.