Workers began removing President Donald Trump’s 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’s operations.

Scaffolding was erected Friday around a section of the building that includes Trump’s 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 “removal work is presently ongoing” and would “conclude in the early hours of the morning.”

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 “take it down.” 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 ousted the center’s previous leadership 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.

“The 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,” according to the appeal. “Indeed, total collapse!”

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 memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.”

The Kennedy Center’s website has dropped Trump’s name. And an earlier email sent to members offering ticket packages for the June 28 Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony came from the Kennedy Center without including Trump’s 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.

The NYPD has pulled back from a proposed security plan that would have created a single checkpoint to enter Washington Square Park after the upcoming Pride parade — one of the few times in recent weeks that the police department has decided not to rein in a gathering in public space.

Local activists and members of the LGBTQIA+ community got the news towards the end of a press conference on Friday morning that had been called to draw attention to the NYPD proposal, which had circulated among Pride organizers and the Sixth Precinct.

Organizers of various Pride events gathered to say they don’t want more barriers on the annual celebration — especially those put up by the police, whose aggression towards lesbians and gays birthed the event itself.

“Pride was started by a rejection of the NYPD’s attempts to control our community,” said Jay Walker, the co-founder of the Queer Liberation March and the president of Gays Against Guns NYC. “That is why Pride exists, but continually, the NYPD tries to hamper our Pride celebration.”

Word had begun to spread in May, when the Sixth Precinct shared the plan that the NYPD would tightly control access to the park after Pride on June 28. According to emails obtained by Streetsblog, precinct officials had told organizers that the closure plan would be similar to the policing strategy on April 20, when cops set up a single entrance to the park and checked everyone’s bag.

LGBTQIA+ groups, plus David Siffert, a candidate for the state Assembly, objected.

“We need to make clear that this park is a public park,” said Siffert, at Friday’s press conference.

For weeks, the NYPD kept organizers in limbo, but at the end of the press conference, Walker finally received a text from his contact at the NYPD that Washington Square Park will be open, as usual, on June 28.

“There is currently no formal plan” to enact restrictions at the park, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed in an email to Streetsblog.

The confusion over Pride mirrors what has been going on in the city this summer, as the NYPD has heightened its presence in public space. Knicks fans trying to celebrate the team’s post-season run were blocked from entering the area surrounding Madison Square Garden by police barricades for the last two championship games. And the NYPD objected to many World Cup watch parties that the Department of Transportation had planned to set up this summer, though the Mamdani administration later created a spate of events at other venues likely chosen to minimize the alleged need for cops.

And World Cup attendees and city residents alike have been told to expect an increased police presence in the city while the matches are happening in New Jersey. Queer New Yorkers worry that the NYPD could impede on their gathering, too.

“Locking down this park is locking out the queer community, locking us out of a place of celebration, protest, and community,” said Lorelei Crean, a young activists for LGBTQIA+ rights.

New York City’s Pride Parade started after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, when the NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn, a mob-owned bar that was the epicenter of the queer community. The first Pride Parade was held the next year, and has continued annually ever since. Last year, the parade hosted 75,000 people.

The parade itself doesn’t travel through Washington Square Park, but the park is usually a meeting space for celebrants before, during and after — not only a reflection on the community’s struggles, but also its history of resistance to the police.

“To have to come here and advocate to not have this public space shut down on the historic day is completely outrageous,” said Kei Williams, the executive director for the LGBTQIA+ rights group, the New Pride Agenda.

Williams pointed out the irony that cops would be policing the gay and trans community when, in fact, members of those groups are the ones who are so often targeted with violence.

WILLIAMSPORT, MD (June 12, 2026) – The Washington County Highway Department announces an upcoming road closure on Bottom Road between the Tannery and the railroad tracks at the Quarry from Monday, June 15, 2026 through Wednesday, June 17, 2026 between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. daily. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. Alternative routes will be available for motorists. 

For further information, please contact Washington County’s Public Relations and Marketing Department at [email protected].

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