The White House announced on Thursday that Washington’s iconic John F Kennedy arts centre is to be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” after President Donald Trump.

The extraordinary naming of a major cultural venue after a living president is just the latest effort by the 79-year-old Republican to stamp his identity on the US capital in his second term.

He has also demolished the White House East Wing in order to install a grand ballroom, and is seeking to construct a large triumphal arch.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Kennedy Center’s board — which Trump purged of Democrats earlier this year before installing himself as chairman — had “voted unanimously” for the change.

She said it was “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”

“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,” she added.

The towering white monument is named after president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. The centre, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River, opened in 1971.

Trump has made a number of references to renaming the centre in recent months.

Earlier this month at the opening of a peace institute that had also been renamed after him, Trump referred to it as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” before adding: “Whoops, excuse me.”

During his first term, billionaire Trump never attended the annual fundraising gala for recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, as many of those artists vocally opposed his policies.

This time, Trump moved quickly to make the centre his own, ridding the board of trustees of its Democratic appointees and ousting its president, as part of a wider assault on federally funded cultural institutions he deemed too “woke.”

Trump then presented the honours this year himself, giving awards to “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, disco legend Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS.

A few days earlier, at the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup on December 5, Trump received a new peace prize from football’s governing body and made a speech on stage.

Kristin Cabot is finally speaking out months after her viral Coldplay kiss cam moment cost her job and ignited an internet firestorm.

In an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, December 18, the former Astronomer HR executive reflected on the night she and then-CEO Andy Byron were caught in an intimate embrace during the band’s Boston concert in July.

Cabot, 53, told the paper she agonised over whether to go public but ultimately felt compelled to explain what happened. She insisted she and Byron were not in a sexual relationship and said they had never kissed before that night.

“I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,” she said, adding that “it’s not nothing.”

Cabot said she has accepted the consequences, even if they were devastating. “That’s the price I chose to pay,” she explained, noting that she “gave up [her] career” over the incident. “I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up, but you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them.”

She told the Times she and Byron “clicked, stylistically” when she interviewed for her role in 2024, bonding later over both “going through” separations. By the time she invited him as her plus-one to the Coldplay concert, she admitted she had a “crush,” though it was not meant to be a date.

On a dopamine high from tequila cocktails and dancing, the pair appeared on the jumbotron, prompting Chris Martin to quip, “Whoa, look at these two.” When Byron ducked away and Cabot hid her face, Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.”

“I was so embarrassed and so horrified,” Cabot said. “I’m the head of HR, and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad.”

Both were placed on leave following a board investigation. Byron resigned the next day, and Cabot followed shortly after. 

Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” has been a motivational anthem for nearly five decades – but it didn’t just serve as inspiration for millions of fans. Gaynor told “CBS Mornings” the song gave her hope during one of the most difficult periods of her life.

After a fall on stage in 1978 at New York’s Beacon Theatre, Gaynor suffered a serious spinal injury and spent months in recovery. Many thought her career was over, but during that painful healing, she recorded what would become a smash hit, “I Will Survive.”

“I was living that song”

The song won a Grammy for best disco recording in 1980 – the only time that category existed. In 2016, it was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for its cultural significance. Now, Gaynor is a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree for her lifetime artistic achievements.

The track was supposed to be a B-side, but Gaynor immediately knew it was a winner. When she was recording it, standing in a back brace, she felt a deep connection to the music

“[I was] hoping I’d survive, you know, this trauma that I was going through, hoping that I survived the fact that my mother had just passed away a few years prior. Yeah, I was living that song and I was certain that I wouldn’t be the only one,” she said.

The song became her anthem – and the world’s – with over 200 covers in more than 20 different languages. And, of course, it sparked several trends on social media. 

Just a girl from Jersey

Before becoming the “queen of disco,” Gaynor was just a girl from Newark, New Jersey. Her talent went unnoticed until a neighbor heard her sing and she was called up to the stage at a club one night to perform.

She eventually worked the nightclub circuit. Her big break came from a meeting with legendary record executive Clive Davis, who helped propel her to the center of disco. Her 1975 debut album, “Never Can Say Goodbye,” was one of the first disco albums to top the charts, cracking the top 25 on the Billboard 200.

Early in her career, Gaynor said she was singing R&B but decided she really wanted to give people music to dance to.

“I remember that discotheques were very, very new. There were just a couple and what they were was cabaret clubs where they’d just taken away the chairs,” she recalled.

Her profile continued to grow as she toured the world. As disco faded in the 1980s, Gaynor kept performing around the world. Years later, she found a new purpose through faith and gospel music. Her 2019 album, “Testimony,” earned her a Grammy, proving her voice still inspires.

Lessons for new artists

Now, nearly 50 years after her rise to fame, Gaynor is honored with one of the nation’s highest distinctions: the Kennedy Center Honor.

“I got a phone call from my manager and I was ecstatic,” said Gaynor as she learned about the award. “It was incredible to even think about being accepted as one who deserved that.”

Gaynor is now parting her wisdom to new artists. Her top takeaway: Don’t set out to seek rewards.

” I would say to them, be about doing the best you can with what God gave you,” she said. “All of that stuff is extra.  I didn’t strive to get a Grammy. I strive to do the best song I could do at that time.  I strive to touch people’s hearts. I strive to uplift, encourage, and power people And so, be about that.”