“Imagine for a moment how deplorable someone has to be to steal the top name on a Memorial Building.”

A South Park author quietly purchased up domains tied to the Kennedy Center’s controversial new identify months earlier than the board formally voted to rename the constructing.

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The Kennedy Center board voted in mid-December to rename the constructing “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Comedian and South Park author Toby Morton noticed the way forward for The Kennedy Center a lot earlier, nonetheless. 

He selected to stage a revolt by shopping for up internet domains related to its eventual new identify again in August. The comic quietly purchased the net domains trumpkennedycenter.org and trumpkennedycenter.com practically half a yr earlier than the identify change was on folks’s radars. 

A prophetic area buy

“As soon as Trump began gutting the Kennedy Center board earlier this year, I thought, ‘Yep, that name’s going on the building,’” Morton stated in an electronic mail interview with the Washington Post.

He adopted the board purge carefully, together with Trump changing members with loyalists and saying plans to personally host the Kennedy Center Honors. By August, Morton registered each domains. He wrote, “The rest followed on schedule.”

While many individuals purchase domains hoping to flip them for revenue, Morton took a unique method. He builds satirical web sites meant to look reliable at first look.

Morton already runs about 50 such websites. For instance, NancyMace26.com opens like a regular marketing campaign web page earlier than pivoting to biting parody. In the “About Me” part, Morton wrote, “Hi, I’m Nancy Mace, your favorite Bible-thumping, trans-bashing, rent-reimbursing rage muppet from South Carolina’s 1st District running for Governor. I turn trauma into airtime, slurs into soundbites, and taxpayer dollars into rent checks.” He additionally runs a faux MAGA courting website and a web page known as ResignChuck.com geared toward Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Plans for the domains aren’t determined but

For now, Morton stored his plans for the Trump-Kennedy Center websites obscure, and at present, they each divert to a generic touchdown web page. He stated, “It’ll absolutely reflect the absurdity of the moment. Some things are truly hard to parody, though.” He added that nobody from Trump’s circle had contacted him, nor had anybody tried to purchase the domains. Morton had solely heard from “a few random lawyers confidently explaining that satire is illegal now.”

“I’ve received a large number of messages from creatives, writers, designers, and performers offering to contribute and help elevate what comes next,” he advised USA Today. “That enthusiasm is shaping the direction of the upcoming site, which will focus squarely on Trump’s narcissism, branding impulses, and the broader cultural implications of attaching his name to institutions that were meant to be civic, not personal.”

X person @macandcorn tweeted concerning the area squatting, “mid-2000’s shitposting is so back.”

“Imagine for a moment how deplorable someone has to be, to steal the top name on a Memorial Building,” @JaybayMcC added. “JFK earned it with the ultimate sacrifice.. Donald is a thief.”

@El_Daverino identified that Morton was “Another liberal comedian that understood the predictability of Trump’s narcissism.”

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