Maria Shriver declares Kennedy Center name change 'downright weird'

Maria Shriver has declared a change to the Kennedy Center's name "downright weird".

The niece of JFK Jnr had strong objections to the newly announced renaming of Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced it would now be known as the "Trump-Kennedy Center".

"The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F Kennedy," Maria, 70, wrote in a lengthy Instagram post explaining her position on the matter. "It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history."

Maria described the name change as "beyond comprehension".

"It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy," she wrote. "It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy's name is acceptable. It is not."

She went on to speculate about further institutions that the current US President Donald Trump, 79, may want to name after himself.

"Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial," Maria wrote. "The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on. Can we not see what is happening here?"

Maria, who was previously married to actor and former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, concluded with a call to arms for her countrymen.

"C'mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It's downright weird," she said. "It's obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think somone (sic) can't stoop any lower, down they go."