Barbra Streisand slams Trump’s ‘unchecked ego’ in Kennedy Center dispute

Barbra Streisand on Thursday accused President Trump of turning the Kennedy Center into “the subject of such a bitter struggle over one man’s name and unchecked ego,” entering a monthslong fight over the arts institution’s naming, leadership and now its very doors.

Ms. Streisand, a 2008 Kennedy Center honoree, wrote in a statement posted to her website that the center’s turmoil was “galling and painful to witness,” and urged Americans to “exercise their right to vote in the upcoming midterm elections” as a check on the dispute.

The singer’s statement lands amid a rapid-fire sequence of legal and administrative moves at the center. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Tuesday that the Kennedy Center’s Trump-aligned board could not inscribe the president’s name on the building’s facade or rename the plaza in his honor without congressional approval, accusing the board of engaging in “linguistic gymnastics” in a scathing ruling that built on his May ruling ordering Mr. Trump’s name removed from the facade — a decision the center complied with in June.

Hours after Tuesday’s ruling, the board voted to close the center’s main building indefinitely for what it described as a roughly two-year renovation. Separately, Kennedy Center executive director Matt Floca ordered the building shut without notice the following day for at least seven days, citing a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month and calling the situation an acute risk to public safety — a closure officials said was distinct from the board’s renovation vote. Mr. Trump has said the roughly $257 million in congressionally appropriated repair funds should not move forward unless the board is permitted to formally credit him for overseeing the project, a position Judge Cooper’s ruling explicitly rejected.

The safety closure has drawn its own legal challenge. On Thursday, the same judge ordered the center to give 30 days’ notice before any demolition or major construction, a safeguard sought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and Kennedy Center trustee. Lawyers for Ms. Beatty argued in a court filing that the board’s justification for the closure was “a plain pretext to justify shutting down the Center permanently.”

Ms. Streisand’s statement traced the center’s history to its 1964 congressional designation as a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy, calling last year’s push to add Mr. Trump’s name “met with widespread opposition from artists and much of the public.” She noted a tarp still covers the facade where Mr. Trump’s name once briefly appeared.