OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:45 PM – Tuesday, July 22, 2025
House Republicans have proposed changing the name of the Kennedy Center’s Opera House in honor of First Lady Melania Trump.
On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment in a 33-25 vote on an annual spending bill to rename the opera house at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”
“This is an excellent way to recognize her support and commitment to promoting the arts,” said Rep. Michael Simpson (R-Idaho.).
Advertisement
President Donald Trump currently serves as the honorary chairman of the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center and has fired multiple board members once he appointed himself to the role.
According to Trump’s announcement that he will be taking over the honorary chairman role, the president stated that he and then-chair David Rubenstein “do not share [the same] Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” Trump wrote in the post.
The opera house, the second-largest theater in the center with 2,347 seats, serves as the site for the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation’s highest award for lifetime achievement in the arts.
“Over the years, the Opera House has welcomed dozens of the world’s great dance and opera companies and has hosted some of the most important artistic events of the last quarter-century,” the center’s website states.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
