Kennedy Center Honors to be held at Capital One Arena amid fight over adding Trump's name

The Kennedy Center Honors, now in their 49th year, will be staged on December 7 at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington rather than at the Kennedy Center itself. A center spokesperson announced the move on Friday without explaining it and offered few other details. The 2026 honorees will be named at a later date, according to PBS NewsHour.

The relocation comes as the center's home on the Potomac sits at the middle of a court dispute. Trump-appointed trustees voted unanimously to put President Donald Trump's name on the building after he hosted the 2025 ceremony, which honored Sylvester Stallone and George Strait, and workers soon began installing it. A federal judge has twice ruled that Congress must approve any such change, and Congress has set aside $257 million for repairs. After one ruling barred the name from returning, the board voted last month to shut the facility. Trump has said on social media that the closure is for safety repairs, but that the work would proceed only if his name could be added.

The law that made the center a living memorial to John F.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →