A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The UFC fight at the White House is just one way President Trump is trying to leave his mark on the nation's capital, but after losing a court battle, workers over the weekend removed his name from the exterior of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: The curtain is literally down on the facade of the Kennedy Center. Tarps went up predawn Saturday to shield the operation as workers took down the big letters spelling Donald J. Trump, in compliance with a court order.
MONICA BROOKS MURPHY: They should never have been up in the first place.
ELLIOTT: Teacher Monica Brooks Murphy (ph) remembers seeing Mikhail Baryshnikov perform in a ballet here when she was a child. She says she wanted to see the center restored to being named solely for President John F. Kennedy.
BROOKS MURPHY: It's a memorial for a dear president that died. You know, it's like putting his name on his grave. It's bizarre.
ELLIOTT: Trump had purged the Kennedy Center's board, replacing it with allies. It then added his name to the title of the organization about six months ago. Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty sued and won. A D.C. federal judge ruled, quote, "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it." The center lost an appeal on Friday, and the next day, its director told the court that Trump's name had been removed from all physical signage, its website and other materials. But the Trump administration has further appeals pending. The Kennedy Center and the White House did not immediately respond to NPR's inquiries.
Mallory Miller used to work in dance programming at the Kennedy Center and was among the workers fired after Trump's trustees took over. She's since co-founded an organization called Hands Off The Arts.
MALLORY MILLER: It's monumental - literally, pun intended (laughter) - to have the letters come off of this monument. But it's only the beginning of rebuilding the trust that has been broken here.
ELLIOTT: The grounds of the Kennedy Center were quiet on Sunday afternoon, where blue-striped tarps remain draped over the building's marble facade. So even though Trump's name is gone, you can't see that.
Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIRTY ART CLUB'S "SINCERELY YOURS, THE D.A.C.") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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