WASHINGTON, Dec. 21,2025,9:28 p.m. ET
Comedian anticipated Trump-Kennedy Center Rename, Snapped Up Domains
A comedy writer secured the digital real estate for a potential parody site months before the Kennedy Center officially became the “Donald J.Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
- Comedy writer Toby Morton purchased the domains “trumpkennedycenter.org” and “trumpkennedycenter.com” in August.
- Morton, known for parody websites, foresaw the renaming and planned a site focused on former President TrumpS branding.
- The domains currently redirect to placeholder pages, but Morton intends to launch a site satirizing Trump’s “narcissism.”
- The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees voted Dec. 18 to rename the institution,citing Trump’s contributions.
Before the White House announced the Kennedy Center’s renaming on Dec.18, one comedian was already preparing for the change. Comedy writer Toby Morton, whose credits include “Mad TV” and “South Park,” purchased the domains trumpkennedycenter.org and trumpkennedycenter.com back in August, anticipating President Donald Trump would add his name to the iconic performing arts center.
Morton told The Washington Post in an interview published Dec. 20 that he’d been planning for this eventuality. Currently,both domains are “parked” through GoDaddy,meaning they display automatically generated content,according to an email Morton sent to USA TODAY on Dec. 21. “Both domains are currently parked through GoDaddy,” he confirmed, “and the URLs currently direct to GoDaddy placeholder pages.”
The Kennedy center’s board of trustees recently voted on Dec. 18 to rename the institution the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing arts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the decision was “as of the remarkable 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.”
As of now, the Kennedy Center’s website remains kennedy-center.org, though Trump’s name is prominently displayed at the top of the site. It’s unclear whether there are any plans to change the domain name.
on Instagram, morton posted that “a few longtime heroes of mine are quietly on board now” after news of his domain purchases.”Maybe don’t mess with an institution like The Kennedy Center? The support is growing,” he wrote. “Watch this space.”
