kk.“This Was Never About P,o,li,ti,cs”: RFK Jr. Explodes After Tr,u,m,p Allies Rename the Kennedy Center — A Move That Has Torn Open Old Wounds and Shocked Even Washington! The silence is over — and the fallout is just beginning. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has finally broken his restraint after T,r,u,mp allies added D,on,al,d T,ru,m,p’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center, a decision that stunned political insiders and enraged the Kennedy family. For decades, the Kennedy Center stood as a solemn, bipartisan memorial to a slain president. Now, critics say it has become a battleground for ego, power, and historical revision. Family members have called the move disrespectful and enraging, accusing T,r,u,m,p allies of exploiting a sacred American institution for political branding. RFK Jr.’s response has reignited a firestorm, reopening painful questions about legacy, ownership of national memory, and how far modern p,o,lit,i,cs will go to rewrite the past. What was once a cultural landmark is now at the center of a furious national debate — and many are asking the same question: was anything off-limits anymore?

NEED TO KNOW

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. weighed in on the Kennedy Center name change weeks after President Donald Trump added his name to the institution
• RFK Jr. is the nephew of John F. Kennedy; the Kennedy Center was dedicated by Congress as a living memorial to the late president one year after his 1963 assassination
• RFK Jr.’s other Kennedy family relatives have been outspoken in their anger over the name change

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has offered his take on the Kennedy Center name change weeks after the institution’s board added President Donald Trump’s name to the historic building.

RFK Jr., 71, who is the nephew of late president John F. Kennedy, was asked by CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes on Thursday, Jan. 8, if he understood the anger from his family members, who were outspoken in their outrage after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in December 2025 that the building would now be known as the Trump-Kennedy Center.

“Of course, I understand it, but I have bigger fish to fry,” the health secretary told CBS News. “If we lose any children in this country to obesity, heart disease — 77% of our kids can’t qualify for the military. Saving one life is more important to me than the name on a building.”

RFK Jr. said he was not involved in the name change, but also said he hadn’t advised against it. When asked if he took issue with the new name, he told CBS News he was focused on “making America healthy again.”

The Kennedy Center was dedicated by Congress as a living memorial to JFK one year after his 1963 assassination. RFK Jr.’s remarks come after other Kennedy family members strongly condemned the name change, including Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of JFK.

Schlossberg, 32 — who previously claimed that changing the name of the institution would be illegal — invoked his recently announced congressional campaign when he wrote on X, “I’m told Trump explicitly motivated to act by JACK FOR NEW YORK. Our campaign represents everything Trump can’t stand or defeat.”

In another post shared to Instagram, Schlossberg wrote, “SEND ME TO CONGRESS TO SMOKE THESE FOOLS — MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR — I won’t back down or be drowned out.”

Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s sister, was also angered by the name change, vowing to pull Trump’s name off the building herself after it was tacked above her late uncle’s.

“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,” she wrote on X. “Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!

Kennedy family members Joe Kennedy III and Maria Shriver spoke out, too, with Joe echoing Schlossberg’s dispute of the name change’s legality, and Shriver saying the new name was “downright weird.”

“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” Shriver wrote on Instagram. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.”

Leavitt, 28, first announced the news of the name change on Dec. 18, 2025, in a post on X, where she wrote, “the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center … voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,”

She added, “Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

While Leavitt claimed the board had voted “unanimously” to change the name, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who has an automatic seat on the Kennedy Center board as a congressional leader, said she was muted on the call where the vote took place.

“Be clear: I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted,” she alleged. “Each time I tried to speak, I was muted. Participants were not allowed to voice their concerns who were online, yet it was said at the end it was a unanimous vote.”