Kerry Kennedy
Role at the time: President of the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center and niece of President John F. Kennedy, as a guest in an interview on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront
Statement summary
In an interview on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on September 15, 2026, Kerry Kennedy was asked whether she would rather the Kennedy Center stay closed or reopen with Trump's name on it. She said the court had barred his name, that the center was then described as bankrupt but would have money 'if his name is on it', that 'this is not an issue of bankruptcy', and that 'This is hostage-taking by the president of the United States'.
“The court said you can't put your name on it. Then, all of a sudden, it's bankrupt, but all of a sudden, if his name is on it, it's got $256 million in the bank. So, this is not an issue of bankruptcy. This is hostage-taking by the president of the United States.”
CNN's own 3:21 clip of the Erin Burnett OutFront interview (page stamped 8:47 PM EDT, Tue Sept. 15, 2026). Audio downloaded with yt-dlp (CNN extractor, HLS audio) and transcribed with mlx-whisper large-v3-turbo; the quoted words match CNN's rush transcript apart from punctuation. The clip stops before the measles exchange.
Why we used this label
The case's fixed reference point is President Trump's stated position that the Kennedy Center's closure and renovation depend on recognition for his administration, as expressed in his 2026-09-15 Truth Social post. Asked whether she would rather the center stay closed or reopen with Trump's name on it, Kennedy says the court barred his name, the center is then called bankrupt but would have money 'if his name is on it', and concludes 'This is hostage-taking by the president of the United States', an express rejection of tying the center's fate to his name. The closest competing label is challenges_characterization, because she also disputes the bankruptcy premise ('this is not an issue of bankruptcy'). That loses because she goes on to condemn the linkage itself rather than only disputing how the situation is described.