JFK’s Grandson Blasts Trump’s Closing Of The Kennedy Center | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump’s plan to shutter the Trump-rebranded Kennedy Center for 2 years isn’t sitting effectively with the members of the family of former President John F. Kennedy, for whom the Washington, D.C. performing arts venue was named.

Trump made the announcement late Sunday on his Truth Social platform, calling the prevailing construction “tired, broken, and dilapidated.” The venue, he mentioned, will shut on July 4 ― the nation’s 250th anniversary ― and can reopen shortly earlier than he leaves workplace.

Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver, took to social media to share her suspicions about Trump’s actual motivations.

“Translation: It has been brought to my attention that due to the name change (but nobody’s telling me it’s due to the name change), but it’s been brought to my attention that entertainers are canceling left and right, and I have determined that since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer,” she wrote Sunday on X. “I’ve determined that due to this change in schedule, it’s best for me to close this center down and rebuild a new center that will bear my name, which will surely get everybody to stop talking about the fact that everybody’s canceling… right?”

Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, who’s at present operating as a Democrat for a U.S. House seat in New York, echoed these sentiments however recommended one of the simplest ways to honor JFK’s legacy was to hunt retribution for Trump’s many different transgressions.

“Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building,” he wrote on X. “He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice, and restore the freedoms generations fought for.”

Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), who’s JFK’s grandnephew, known as Trump’s Kennedy Center plan “painful” – and a distraction.

“President Kennedy would remind us that it is not buildings that define the greatness of a nation. It is the actions of its people and its leaders,” he wrote on X. “So, do not be distracted from what this Administration is actually trying to erase: our connection, our community, and our commitment to the rights of all.”

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 as a “living memorial” to President Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. Trump’s takeover of the venue ― dubiously rebranded the Trump-Kennedy Center in December, prompting authorized and legislative challenges ― despatched shockwaves via the performing arts neighborhood.

Last month, composer Philip Glass and soprano Renée Fleming joined a rising checklist of artists to cancel their scheduled performances on the historically nonpartisan venue amid quite a few reviews of dwindling donations and declining ticket gross sales.

Richard Grenell, who Trump appointed as the middle’s interim government director final February, dismissed the criticism, arguing that the president had introduced “common-sense” programming again to the venue.

“We have, for decades, watched the Kennedy Center be ignored by the very people who are now standing up and complaining about the rescuer,” Grenell instructed Fox News final month. “They’re complaining about the fireman who’s come in to literally rescue it and put out the fire.”