Jimmy Kimmel has a new nickname for former President Donald Trump's efforts to attach his name to the Kennedy Center: "holding the building hostage."
During his monologue on Wednesday night, Kimmel pointed out that the Kennedy Center's board, appointed by Trump, voted to close the building for renovations immediately after a judge ruled that Trump's name could not be added to the building without congressional approval.
"So now the big baby says if the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn that ruling and put his name on the wall next to Kennedy’s, there will be no renovations at all," Kimmel said.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he was closing the center "for safety reasons" after a federal judge denied efforts to add the phrase "renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump" to the building's exterior. He stated that renovations could not begin until the D.C. Circuit rules on the board's approved name. "If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place," Trump wrote.
Kimmel also suggested a new name for the center: the Melania Trump Kennedy Center.
Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy, criticized Trump's actions. "This statement from Trump blows my mind," she wrote on X. "That a sitting president would not let any renovations to a public building go on unless he gets to first put his name in the said building… What a sad state of affairs. What a tragedy."
Shriver called Trump "small minded" and "narcissistic," adding that "actually great men, devoted to public service and the public good do not act like this." She contrasted his focus on the Kennedy Center with the struggles of everyday Americans regarding healthcare, gas prices, rent, and food, and ongoing global conflicts.