President Donald Trump caused an uproar online Friday as he slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, flouting a federal law prohibiting changes to the building's name.
Washington, D.C. resident Andrew Howard had sharp words after watching the building change names in front of his eyes.
"I'm feeling like democracy died today. This is history happening today, and we should all be shocked. Shocked that a felon, a convicted felon, and a thug and by all means a grifter, has just stuck his name on top of a national monument. This is a desecration," Howard said.
Other people had reactions to the news on social media:
"I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Kennedy Center," Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings wrote on Bluesky.
"Just to be clear. It’s the John F Kennedy center legally. Just like it’s still the department of defense," former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) wrote on Bluesky.
"Renaming the Kennedy Center, our national fine arts center, after such a coarse, lowbrow, and ignorant buffoon is America at its very stupidest," Canadian comedian Deven Green wrote on Bluesky.
"The Kennedy Center is still the Kennedy Center, and will always be the Kennedy Center. Just like the Gulf of Mexico," Canadian urban planner Brent Toderian wrote on Bluesky.