
2025, December 25 United States
This renaming was also under scrutiny by experts and officials like U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty. Several, have called it "illegal," citing The Kennedy Center Act of 1964: "SEC. 11. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, designated by this Act, shall be the sole national memorial to the late John Fitzgerald Kennedy within the city of Washington and its environs."
Some commentators and political viewers, like Rachel Maddow, said it would be torn down and renamed back to "The Kennedy Center," allegedly because a board vote can not outrule Congressional decision. Although this is "official" in that the name has been physically changed on the building and website, some people in opposition to the legality of these actions, still reportedly continued to refer to it as "The Kennedy Center."