Officials are searching for a person they said spilled a “toxic substance” on the temporary ice rink outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.
The ice skating rink outside the building was vandalized with a black sludge-like liquid, causing the cancellation of Friday night’s performance by the Montreal skating group “Le Patin Libre.”
Now, Kennedy Center Interim President Richard Grenell is asking for the public’s help.
“We were able to find security footage of the individual, and have shared that with the (U.S.) Park Police,” Grenell said. “We’re really asking the public to look at these pictures and to see if they know this individual.”
In an interview with WTOP, Grenell said that it took more than 14 hours to repair the ice.
“That toxic substance was so deep into the ice it really caused a lot of damage,” Grenell said. “It looked like black tar or gasoline.”
Grenell said nothing similar has happened during his short time at the Kennedy Center, but believes there has been “a concerted effort from the left” to bully artists into canceling their performances.
Help us find this terrorist suspect who attacked the Trump Kennedy Center.
Notice his shoes and his umbrella.
Do you know who this is?
Call 202.416.7900 with any tips. pic.twitter.com/V0TJTaBZRI
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 22, 2026
“We at the Trump-Kennedy Center absolutely want every single person to come regardless of their politics. We haven’t canceled any shows,” Grenell said. “We want programming to be welcoming for everyone, including families.”
Speaking about the vandalism, Grenell said these incidents reflect a growing trend in American society of “people who are so intolerant they want to try to silence people or cancel people.”
“That’s just not the America that I grew up in. We have to be able to disagree without attacking or resorting to violence,” he said.
Grenell said the person who poured the black substance on the ice “lashed out in a terroristic way.”
“(It’s) no way to conduct yourself as an American,” he said. “I think that we need to be able to, if you disagree with someone politically, not resort to violence on someone’s person or on property. It is a dangerous slippery slope, and I would say, ‘Seek help.’”
In December, the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, appointed by President Donald Trump, voted to add Trump’s name to the performing arts center. Plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit argue that federal law prohibits the board from converting it into a monument for any individual or adding any other person’s name to the building’s exterior.
U.S. Park Police, which received an incident report from Kennedy Center officials, is investigating the vandalism.
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