Fact Check: Is photo of ‘imperial red banners’ of Trump outside Kennedy Center real?

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump visited the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, March 17, and announced that the JFK files would be made public on Tuesday, March 18, per Mediaite.

Recently, a picture went viral on social media showing large red banners of Trump hung outside the Kennedy Center in Washington. But is there any truth to this photo? Let us find out below.

Claim: 'Imperial red banners' with Donald Trump's likeness outside Kennedy Center

A viral photo in March showed large red banners of President Trump hung outside the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The Kennedy Center has long organized its annual gathering of celebrated artists, known as the Kennedy Center Honors.

A user posted the picture on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote in the caption, "Can't wait till we tear this down one day. Waste of taxpayer money."

Another user posted the same picture and wrote, "This represents the embodiment of fascism in America."

The purported screenshot shared by both users had texts along with the picture that read, "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 banners in the picture read, "President Trump Welcomes You. Make America Great Again." 

False: The viral picture originated as an artist's illustration

It must be noted that the picture of 'imperial red banners' with Donald Trump is not real and it originated as an artist's illustration which was featured above an opinion article by The Daily Beast on February 13, according to Snopes.

The article's headline by Daily Beast read, "Quiet Over Trump’s Kennedy Center Grab Risks 'Capitulation'."

Meanwhile, the Daily Beast story referenced the POTUS' effort to remove leadership at the Kennedy Center and replace the positions with political loyalists, and making himself the chairman, per the fact-checking outlet. These changes followed alleged complaints from Trump allies who believed the Kennedy Center had become too liberal and "woke" in its programming.

Fo the cover image of the article, The Daily Beast revealed that the picture combined a photo of the building by Getty Images with other elements, per Snopes.

The cover credit read, "Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images."

X also labeled the post as fake as their disclaimer read, "This is not a real photograph. It's an illustration for an article in Daily Beast. The photo caption says "Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images"."

Donald Trump announced at Kennedy Center he would be making JFK files public

During his visit to the Kennedy Center on Monday, Donald Trump said, "While we’re here, I thought it would be appropriate, we are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files. So people have been waiting for decades for this."

He added, "And I’ve instructed my people that are responsible, lots of different people, put together by Tulsi Gabbard. And that’s going to be released tomorrow. We have a tremendous amount of paper, you’ve got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything."

The POTUS also said, "I said just don’t redact, you can’t redact. But we’re going to be releasing the JFK files and that would be tomorrow. Do you have anything else to add to that, Carol? So that’s a big announcement. They’ve been waiting for that for decades. Then I said during the campaign I’d do it and I’m a man of my word."