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Former Kennedy Center employees are accusing the performing arts center’s leadership of delaying repairs to known roof and structural problems months before officials cited those same issues as a reason to abruptly close the building.
In a whistleblower disclosure sent to Congress Thursday, attorney David Seide, representing anonymous former employees, alleged that Kennedy Center Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Matt Floca knew about serious roof leaks and other problems and halted a funded repair plan in April.
The allegations add a new layer to the dispute over the center’s decision to close its main building indefinitely, citing what officials described as acute public-safety risks.
Floca has denied that repairs were abandoned, saying the center had known for years about leaks but that inspections this summer revealed the extent of damage inside the building. He said the April decision involved changing how the work would be procured and delivered after an initial contractor’s bid came in at nearly three times the expected cost — not a determination that the repairs were unnecessary.
Whistleblowers say repairs were already funded
According to Seide’s letter, Floca had requested and obtained funding to address roofing problems more than a year before the closure.
The whistleblowers say roughly $9.3 million had been allocated for roofing replacement, part of the broader $257 million Congress appropriated for Kennedy Center repairs under legislation signed by President Donald Trump in 2025.
They allege that despite having the money available, leadership stopped the remediation process in April.
The disclosure contends that the problems now being described as an emergency were known earlier and were not treated as an immediate safety threat at the time.
A separate review by The Washington Post found that many conditions now cited by Kennedy Center management — including water intrusion, deteriorating steel and concrete, aging mechanical systems and plumbing problems — had been identified before Trump’s takeover. Earlier building plans contemplated completing renovations while the center remained operational.
Kennedy Center disputes the allegations
Floca has offered a sharply different account.
He said the Kennedy Center had long known that portions of the roof overhang leaked, but that officials did not understand how extensively water had penetrated the building until inspections conducted this summer.
Floca also said the initial repair plan was reassigned after a contractor submitted a bid substantially higher than expected.
“That was a change in the approach to procuring and delivering the work, not a determination that the work was unnecessary,” Floca said.
Kennedy Center officials have pointed to deteriorating infrastructure and recent safety incidents as justification for the shutdown. In a court declaration, Floca said inspections revealed “acute risks to public safety,” including problems involving a deteriorating roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse.
The whistleblowers dispute the suggestion that the underlying problems were newly discovered.
Questions over $257 million in federal funding
The dispute is also drawing scrutiny over how the Kennedy Center has handled the hundreds of millions of dollars Congress provided for repairs.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, sent Floca a separate letter seeking answers about the whistleblower allegations.
Whitehouse said documents provided to him appeared to show that Kennedy Center leadership had “hoarded” congressionally appropriated repair funds while criticizing previous administrations for the condition of the building.
He said his earlier investigation had focused on allegations of excessive and self-serving spending at the center but that the new documents appeared to raise questions about broader financial management.
The Republican majority on Whitehouse’s committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to The Associated Press.
Closure follows escalating fight over Kennedy Center
The controversy comes amid a broader battle over the Kennedy Center since Trump took control of its board and became chairman.
The center has undergone a sweeping leadership and renovation overhaul under Trump’s board, including efforts to place his name on the building. A federal judge later blocked the naming plan and ordered the lettering removed.
The board subsequently voted to close the main building, citing safety concerns and the need for extensive repairs.
Kennedy Center officials have argued that the deterioration is so extensive that remaining open would endanger workers, performers and visitors. Floca previously testified that the building’s roof had failed in multiple areas and that water had reached areas protecting electrical infrastructure. He argued that a prolonged closure was necessary to address the problems.
But the whistleblower allegations raise a separate question: whether some of the work now being used to justify the shutdown could have been addressed earlier while the center remained open.
That dispute is now becoming part of a broader congressional examination of the Kennedy Center’s renovation decisions, contracting practices and use of federal repair money.
