A rumor that users circulated online in March 2025 claimed a picture showed U.S. President Donald Trump's photo on large red banners outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The institution, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, has long organized its annual gathering of celebrated artists, known as the Kennedy Center Honors.
For example, on March 11, one X user said (archived) of the picture, "Can't wait till we tear this down one day. Waste of taxpayer money." Another user also posted (archived), "This represents the embodiment of fascism in America." Both users shared under their captions a screenshot of a Facebook post announcing, in part, "Trump's face looms over the Kennedy Center, draped in imperial red banners — bigger than life, bigger than law, bigger than the people. This is not patriotism. This is authoritarianism in real time."
The purported banners read, "President Trump Welcomes You. Make America Great Again." A reader asked via email, "Did the Kennedy Center put up large banners of Trump welcoming people?"
However, the image did not authentically show large red banners bearing Trump's image displayed at the Kennedy Center. The fake picture originated as an artist's illustration, featured above an opinion article (archived) published by The Daily Beast on Feb. 13. The story's headline read, "Quiet Over Trump's Kennedy Center Grab Risks 'Capitulation.'" We have rated the claim as false.
The Daily Beast story referenced Trump's effort to oust leadership at the Kennedy Center and replace those positions with political loyalists, including installing himself as chairman. The Associated Press reported the changes followed complaints from the Republican president's allies who believed the Kennedy Center had become too liberal and "woke" in its programming.
The Daily Beast displayed a credit for the illustration, revealing the picture combined a photo of the building provided by Getty Images with other elements. The credit read, "Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images."
The screenshot of the Facebook post, which as of March 20 did not show up as an available post in searches on the platform, read in full, as follows:
?THE BANNERS ARE UP. THE MASK IS OFF. THE COUP IS UNDERWAY. ?
Trump's face looms over the Kennedy Center, draped in imperial red banners — bigger than life, bigger than law, bigger than the people. This is not patriotism. This is authoritarianism in real time.
This is what the rise of fascism actually looks like. Not in grainy history books, not in dystopian fiction—right here, right now.
This is how power seizes a nation before it drops the hammer.
The fact checkers at Check Your Fact also debunked this rumor about the fictional Kennedy Center banners.
For further reading, previous fact checks examined whether or not the Kennedy Center "laundered" COVID-19 pandemic relief money by donating to the Democratic National Committee, as well as a rumor from 2014 falsely claiming a proposal existed to change the Kennedy Center's name to Obama Center for the Arts.