Maria Shriver Says It's 'Downright Weird' That Trump's Name Will Appear Before 'Kennedy' on JFK's Own Memorial: 'Wake Up!'

Maria Shriver is joining the chorus of Kennedy relatives objecting to the newly announced name for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Shriver, 70, reacted with a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, Dec. 18, after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced earlier in the day that the Kennedy Center would now be known as the "Trump-Kennedy Center."

Leavitt claimed that the decision was made in a "unanimous" vote by the Kennedy Center board. Her announcement drew the ire of Robert F. Kennedy's grandson Joe Kennedy III and JFK's grandson Jack Schlossberg, as well as Shriver.

"The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history," Shriver began her post.

"He brought the arts into the White House, and he and my Aunt Jackie amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists," she said. "It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not."

Shriver continued, "Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on. Can we not see what is happening here?"

"C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird," she said. "It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think somone [sic] can’t stoop any lower, down they go…"

Alongside her caption, Shriver posted a photo of a JFK bust outside of the Kennedy Center, as well as an image of her late uncle during his presidency and a photo of the exterior of the building, which which was dedicated in 1964 as a "living memorial" for JFK.

Her post came as both Joe, 45, and Schlossberg, 32, proclaimed that changing the name of the Kennedy Center violated federal law. Joe replied to Leavitt's announcement on X with his own post on Thursday. He wrote, "The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law."

He added, "It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says."

Months before Leavitt's Thursday announcement, Schlossberg objected to a proposed bill from Republican Rep. Bob Onder. The “Make Entertainment Great Again Act" aimed to entirely rename the Kennedy Center as the "Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts," but was never made into law.

Schlossberg shared a screenshot to social media at the time of Public Law 88-260, under which the Kennedy Center operates as an interactive memorial for the late president. The law declares that "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."

"Plain reading of the statute makes clear — YOU CAN'T DO THAT," Schlossberg wrote in the caption of his post.

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Shriver also reacted with outrage to the proposed bill to rename the Kennedy Center after Trump when it was first announced in July. She wrote in a post on X at the time, "This is insane. It makes my blood boil. It’s so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded. Truly, what is this about? It’s always about something. ‘Let’s get rid of the Rose Garden. Let’s rename the Kennedy Center.’ What’s next?"

Trump has been forthcoming about his plans to remake the Kennedy Center to his liking during his second term. The president made himself chairman shortly after returning to the White House in January, and proclaimed that he was getting rid of so-called "woke" members of the board to make room for MAGA devotees.

JFK was a dedicated supporter of the arts. While there were already plans in place to open a national cultural center in D.C. prior to his 1963 death, the establishment was redesignated as a memorial to the late president after his assassination.