▲ The closed Kennedy Center, a national cultural arts performance venue in Washington, D.C.
The Kennedy Center Honors, an annual U.S. pop culture awards ceremony that has traditionally been held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (hereinafter the Kennedy Center) in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. President in attendance at the end of every year, will not take place at the Kennedy Center this year.
According to the Associated Press, a Kennedy Center spokesperson announced on the 2nd local time that this year's 49th awards ceremony will be held at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
This marks the first time the event will be held at a venue other than the Kennedy Center.
While the spokesperson did not provide specific reasons for the venue change, observers suggest it is likely related to the closure of the center amid ongoing controversies surrounding the addition of U.S. President Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy Center's title.
Last December, the Kennedy Center board of trustees voted to change the name to the "Trump-Kennedy Center" and hung the revised name on the building's exterior wall. However, in May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., put the brakes on the move and ordered its removal.
The board subsequently voted to rename the building the "John F. Kennedy Center Restored and Remodeled by President Trump," but Judge Cooper issued an order halting even this last month on the 15th.
In response, President Trump and the board played a hardball card by "closing the center," citing financial difficulties and aging facilities.
The next day, media outlets captured President Trump reviewing large presentation materials titled "Kennedy Center Demolition" aboard Air Force One.
Regarding this, when asked in an interview with the U.S. news magazine Time released the previous day whether he could promise not to demolish the Kennedy Center, President Trump replied, "I won't promise anything. We'll have to see how it plays out in court."
President Trump personally hosted parts of the awards ceremony held on December 7 of last year.
At that time, the center's name had been changed to the "Trump-Kennedy Center," and the event was also titled the "Trump-Kennedy Center Honors."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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