Republicans move to rename Kennedy Center Opera House after Melania Trump

Republicans have moved to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House after Melania Trump. It’s the latest update since President Donald Trump appointed himself as chairman at the John F Kennedy Center. 

On Tuesday (22 July), lawmakers advanced a proposal 33-25 to rename the Opera House, one of the centre’s major theatre venues, the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House”. 

The amendment changing the 2,364-seat theatre’s name was approved along party lines by the House Appropriations Committee as part of a spending bill for the Department of the Interior, environment and related agencies. The proposed legislation requires approval from the full House before it becomes law. 

The New York Times reports that it is tradition for the first lady to serve as the honorary chair of the performing arts centre.

Representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho-based Republican who introduced the amendment, said via a statement following the vote: “This is an excellent way to recognise [the first lady’s] support and commitment to promoting the arts.”

However, Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine, a Democrat on the House subcommittee, opposed the amendment and called it yet “another assault in this whole lineup of the president taking control of the Kennedy Center”, as per the outlet.

“It seems outrageous to me. There’s no public consensus around this. It also leads me to wonder, does the president plan to rename the whole Kennedy Center after himself?”

At the start of his non-consecutive second term, Trump was voted chair of the performing arts centre after appointing himself in the position. After he vowed to fire members of the board of trustees, the board is now made up entirely of Trump appointees, as per the Guardian. 

Trump also threw out the centre’s longtime president Deborah F. Rutter and its chairman, David M. Rubenstein. Meanwhile, other high-profile board members also resigned in Trump’s wake, including Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes. 

The president has expressed his views on overhauling what he calls “anti-American propaganda” programming at the centre. Several LGBTQ+ performance groups have faced show cancellations at the venue, including the International Pride Orchestra and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. 

The decision comes just one month after drag queens protested Trump and Melania’s appearance at the opening night of Les Misérables at the venue. 

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