Kennedy family melts down over 'blood boiling' plan to rename beloved opera center for Melania Trump
Maria Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, said the idea of renaming the iconic cultural center makes her 'blood boil.'
'This is insane. It makes my blood boil. It's so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded. Truly, what is this about? It's always about something. 'Let's get rid of the Rose Garden. Let's rename the Kennedy Center.' What's next?,' she wrote on social media.
Shriver, the former first lady of California, is the niece of President John F. Kennedy, for whom the center is named.
Other Kennedy family members had a similar reaction.
Jack Schlossberg, the former president's lone grandson, raged about the matter on Instagram last week, writing: 'Plain reading of the statute makes clear — You cant do that.'
Trump initiated a take over of the Kennedy Center early in his second term and his allies in Congress are doubling-down on that move by attempting to add the Trump name to venue.
There are two separate pieces of legislation moving through the House tied to renaming the center, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River in Washington D.C.
One involves renaming the Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump and is moving through Congress as an amendment to a spending bill that includes funds for the Kennedy Center.
Additionally, Republican Rep. Bob Onder of Missouri introduced the 'Make Entertainment Great Again Act' to rename the whole center the 'Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts.'
In his protest of the move, Schlossberg, the son of Caroline Kennedy, cited a 1983 federal law that states: 'No additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.'
Some Democrats are using that statute to argue the center cannot be renamed without specific legislation to overturn that 1983 act.
They say that not even parts of the center can be renamed, such as the Opera House for Melania Trump.
'Legally, they can't just slap her name on it without congressional action,' said a spokesperson for Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine told NBC News.
'If Republicans can't pass their budget — which they usually can't — the Melania Trump renaming provision dies,' the spokesperson continued. 'The only real wildcard is whether Trump or his allies ignore the law entirely and try to do it unilaterally. But that would have no legal basis — and would almost certainly trigger a court fight.'
Earlier this year, Trump fired President Joe Biden's appointees to the Kennedy board and had himself installed as chairman, ousting longtime leader David Rubenstein.
Trump then appointed Special Presidential Envoy Ric Grenell as acting Kennedy Center president and executive director.
In appointing his longtime loyalist to head the center, Trump wrote on social media that Grenell would be overseeing daily operations to ensure 'no more drag shows or other anti-American propaganda' are hosted at the iconic arts center.
In his first term, Trump avoided the center, refusing to attend its annual Kennedy Center Honors after some of the artists being featured threatened to boycott if he attended.
The first couple showed up at Kennedy Center following his takeover, attending a showing of 'Les Misérables' at the iconic venue in early June.
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