While President Donald Trump was leading a campaign to remake the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a comedy writer was busy securing the most intuitive web address for its new name, TrumpKennedyCenter.org, and turning it into a parody of the institution.
Now, the website is drawing attention as a backlash grows over the rebranding of the center to include Trump’s name. High-profile artists have canceled performances, and a federal lawsuit has challenged the renaming, saying that it requires an act of Congress.
Kennedy Center renaming divides musicians leaving and staying
Toby Morton, 54, a television writer and producer who has worked on animated sitcom “South Park” and “MadTV,” said Thursday that he secured the domain in August, wagering that a name change would come after Trump purged several members of the Kennedy Center’s board and installed himself as its chair.
“Since 2020, I’ve been grabbing domains tied to politicians and authoritarian figures and turning them into blunt, often uncomfortable reflections of what they actually represent,” Morton said in an email.
His bet paid off. Workers added Trump’s full name to the center’s marble facade last month. Its (real) website, kennedy-center.org, switched its header, identifying the institution as “The Trump Kennedy Center.” The center has not officially announced a new website.
Visitors to TrumpKennedyCenter.org, instead of seeing a schedule for the center’s usual slate of classical music, jazz, theater and ballet performances, are met with an announcement for a show by the “Epstein Dancers.”
A redesigned logo subtly depicts the building’s columns as prison bars. A banner at the top of the website proclaims the center “A National Institution Devoted To Power And Loyalty.” A disclaimer at the bottom says that it is, indeed, a parody.
Trump vilifies Kennedy family hours after Tatiana Schlossberg’s death
“Beginning January 2026, TrumpKennedyCenter.org enters a new era of devotion, unity and inherited authority,” a message on the website says. “We exist to preserve what must endure, to honor what must not be questioned, and to gather those who understand that greatness is not chosen, it is recognized.”
Kennedy Center renaming prompts a new round of cancellations
The Kennedy Center and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including an inquiry as to whether they planned legal action against Morton to claim the domain.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
