Whoopi Goldberg used Wednesday’s episode of ABC’s “The View” to sharply criticize President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to attach his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, comparing the push to defacing a grave.
According to clips highlighted by Breitbart News, Goldberg told the panel that a federal judge had just rejected Trump’s most recent attempt to restore his name to the institution. She described what she framed as an ongoing personal fixation with the Washington, D.C., cultural landmark.
“So you-know-who’s obsession with slapping his name on the Kennedy Center continues,” Goldberg said. “A federal judge just rejected his latest effort to add his name back on.”
Goldberg went on to say that board members chosen by Trump had voted to close the center for renovations, and that the president had indicated the work would not proceed unless his name was added to the building.
A dispute over whose memorial it is
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin jumped in with a comparison of her own, characterizing the standoff as petulant. “This is like the kid taking their ball and going home, and like, storming off,” she said.
Goldberg pushed back on that framing, arguing that the building does not belong to Trump in the first place. “This is somebody else’s ball,” she said. “This is somebody else’s memorial.”
She then drew a historical distinction between the presidents immortalized at Mount Rushmore and the man the Kennedy Center honors, noting that the monument in South Dakota was carved after the presidents it depicts had died naturally, while Kennedy was assassinated in office. That difference, she argued, makes the renaming push uniquely disrespectful.
“You can’t — it’s like you’re asking to put your name on somebody’s grave,” Goldberg said. “What are you doing? Go to work.”
Griffin added that the fight may prove futile regardless of the outcome, predicting that a future president would simply remove Trump’s name if he ultimately prevails. She suggested the president should instead direct his attention to the economy and to ending the war.
A long-running naming battle
The exchange reflects a broader conflict over the identity of the Kennedy Center, which Congress established in the late 1950s as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and which has carried his name since shortly after his death.
The segment also captures the degree to which Trump’s second term has been marked by efforts to stamp his name on institutions and physical spaces associated with his predecessors — moves that have drawn legal challenges and sharp criticism from opponents.
Wednesday’s comments from Goldberg are the latest in a series of on-air critiques from the daytime talk show, which has frequently served as a venue for progressive commentary on the administration. The hosts did not cite the specific judge or court ruling by name during the segment.
The Kennedy Center, located along the Potomac River, serves as the nation’s premier performing arts venue and hosts hundreds of events each year. Any extended closure for renovations would affect a broad slate of concerts, theatrical productions, and cultural programming.
Neither the White House nor representatives for the Kennedy Center immediately responded to the remarks in the clips highlighted by Breitbart. The legal dispute over the naming appears to be ongoing.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/09/16/whoopi-goldberg-trump-is-trying-to-put-his-name-on-kennedys-grave/