une 8 (UPI) — Kennedy Center officials removed President Donald Trump‘s name from the venue’s website and YouTube page Monday following a U.S. district judge’s order in late May to do so.
However, the name remains on the front of the venue with days remaining before June 12, a deadline given by its general counsel, The Guardian reported. A memo by that general counsel, issued last week, told Kennedy Center employees to scrub all references to Trump on center materials.
The venue’s name is to return to “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” on all materials, with an immediate deadline given for email signatures, letterhead and other simpler documents and the June 12 deadline given for signs, the website, brochures and other materials.
The name also remains on some social media pages, The Washington Post reported.
In late May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center’s board overstepped its authority when it voted to add Trump’s name to the venue in December. This was less than a year after Trump dismissed the former board and named new members. Those members then elected him the chairman.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper ruled.
The judge also blocked the center from closing soon in preparation for $257 million in renovations ordered by that board. Cooper said that his ruling wouldn’t keep the board from ultimately moving forward with the closures and renovations, however, “should it come to this decision anew after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion.”
Cooper’s decision came after Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, sued in response to the name change. She said she believed Trump wanted to close the facility in response to the many people and organizations that canceled appearances there after the change.
