John F. Kennedy’s outspoken niece and grandson have both laid into President Donald Trump over the latest in a string of controversies at the MAGAfied Kennedy Center.
Maria Shriver, 70, mused about the real reason Trump decided to temporarily shutter the once-venerated cultural institution named after her uncle, which the new board recently attempted to rename the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
The 79-year-old president announced in a Truth Social post on Sunday night that the “tired, broken, and dilapidated” performing arts center in Washington, D.C., will be closed for two years beginning July 4th for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.”
“If we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruption from Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer,” Trump claimed.
But Shriver wasn’t buying it.
“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 in an X post.
“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?” Shriver went on.
John F. Kennedy’s only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, 33, was more direct in his claims that the president is trying to dominate the iconic arts venue.
“Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building. He can try to kill JFK,” Schlossberg wrote on his X account. “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.”
Schlossberg is no stranger to calling out the Trump administration, including his first cousin once removed, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he blamed last week for the “deadly outbreak” of measles that has the United States poised to lose its status as having officially eliminated the disease.
Meanwhile, Joe Kennedy III, who is the son of former U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, labeled the move a “trespass on the People’s will.”
“For those beliefs and for his sacrifice, Congress voted to make The Kennedy Center a living memorial to him, as a place built by the people for the people to celebrate what connects us,” he posted on X. “While this trespass on the People’s will is painful, 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.”
The Democrat, who previously represented Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District, warned people to “not be distracted” from what the Trump administration “is actually trying to erase: our connection, our community, and our commitment to the rights of all.”
Neither the White House nor the Kennedy Center immediately returned a request for comment on the family’s remarks.
Richard Grenell, whom Trump appointed president of the Kennedy Center, was quick to attempt to put a positive spin on the closure.
“It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense,” Grenell claimed, gushing over Trump’s reputation for “delivering large construction projects on time.”
He added, “This will be a brief closure in retrospect-and I am confident this sets the stage for a stronger, revitalized National Cultural and Entertainment Complex.”
The Kennedy Center has struggled to sell tickets since Trump installed himself as chairman and appointed MAGA loyalists to its historically bipartisan board in February last year.
A Washington Post analysis of ticketing data in October, nearly nine months after the Trump takeover, found that sales for the three largest performance venues at the Kennedy Center were the worst they had been in three years—thanks in part to the slew of cancellations by artists and performing groups.
Last week, renowned composer and pianist Philip Glass said he was pulling his world premiere from the Kennedy Center because he felt “an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.”
Also last month, Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming backed out due to what the center described as a “scheduling conflict,” the Martha Graham Dance Company—the oldest group of its kind in the U.S.—canceled its April show without providing an explanation, and the Washington National Opera ended its five-decade residency at the Kennedy Center.
