Kennedy Center Board Member Who Opposed New Trump Name Claims She Was 'Muted' During Vote: 'This Was Not Unanimous'

Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty is accusing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt of misleading the public about the level of support behind renaming the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump.

Beatty, who has an automatic seat on the Kennedy Center board as a congressional leader, spoke out after Leavitt announced on Thursday, Dec. 18, that the board had just voted "unanimously" to change the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial for the Performing Arts to the "Trump-Kennedy Center."

"I'm sitting here in my congressional office in Washington, D.C., just ending a call with the Kennedy Center, where I serve as an ex-officio member," Beatty, 75, said in a video posted to X. "I am bringing this to you live today because what you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center, the Trump Center."

"Be clear: I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted. Each time I tried to speak, I was muted. Participants were not allowed to voice their concerns who were online, yet it was said at the end it was a unanimous vote," she continued.

"Clearly the Congress has a say in this. This center, the Kennedy Center, was created by the Congress," the Ohio congresswoman added. "I think it's important for us to know that this is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say."

In a caption above her video, Beatty wrote, "Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship."

Shortly after taking office, Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center by purging the appointed members of the board and installing his own MAGA loyalists. The Trump-friendly board then established Trump as chairman of the arts organization, which was dedicated in 1964 as a "living memorial" to slain President John F. Kennedy.

“I want to make sure it runs properly,” Trump said at the time. “We don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center, and we don’t need — some of the shows were terrible. They were a disgrace that they were even put on.”

Trump appeared to hint at his interest in renaming the Kennedy Center in August when he previewed the annual Kennedy Center Honors on social media.

"GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS. They will be announced Wednesday," Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social at the time. 

Trump made history at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors as the first sitting president to host the event, where he honored Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford.

JFK's only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, previously spoke out against the possibility of renaming the Kennedy Center to honor Trump.

He argued on social media over the summer that the move would go against federal law, citing a congressional act that said, "no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts."

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"The Trump Administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression. He uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear. But this isn't about the arts," Schlossberg, 32, wrote in a July Instagram post.

"Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn't," he added. "But there's hope — art lasts forever, and no one can change what JFK and our shared history stands for."

The Kennedy Center was opened as an interactive memorial for the late president, per Public Law 88-260, which explains why no other memorials are permitted within the center.

Kennedy, a devoted supporter of the arts, frequently advocated for what he called "our contribution to the human spirit," per the center's site. Though plans to open a national cultural center in D.C. were already in the works before Kennedy's death, the establishment was redesignated as a JFK memorial in the months after his assassination. Construction began in 1964, and the center opened in 1971.