The current chairman of the Kennedy Center is philanthropist and private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, who has donated millions to the facility. It was announced in November that he would remain chairman until September 2026; he had said in early 2024 he would step away from that role in January.

The president's comments came at the end of a 30-minute press conference while en route to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

The president said he had removed the chairman David Rubenstein, saying he did not “share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture."

President Donald Trump announced an aggressive plan Friday evening to gut the existing board of trustees at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and oust its chairman, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein,

The president announced Friday that he would remove multiple board members, including the Chairman, who do not share his vision for a "Golden Age in Arts and Culture."

President Donald Trump announced his plans to gut the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

President Trump will appoint himself chairman of the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he said Friday. Trump plans to remove several members of the board of trustees, he said in a Truth Social post.

President Donald Trump announced that he would install himself as David Rubenstein’s successor as chairman of the Kennedy Center.

President Trump on Friday said he would end the terms of multiple members of the Kennedy Center board and make himself chair of a new board, putting himself at the helm of the Washington, D.C., cultural institution.

The president had an at-times contentious relationship with Washington's iconic theater during his first term.