Washington’s marble icons turned into a makeshift movie screen this weekend when a crew of guerrilla projection artists splashed videos of Donald Trump and images of Jeffrey Epstein across some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. The Kennedy Center’s tarp-covered portico became the main stage, with matching projections briefly appearing on the Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and outside the Department of Justice. In the mix were blunt cartoons: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a crocodile, Stephen Miller as a vampire bat, Marco Rubio as a fish and the numerals “86 47” pulsing across stone and scaffolding.
Video of the Kennedy Center projection ricocheted across social media after the montage, posted by an anonymous collective calling itself VJayBombs, went up on the group’s Instagram and was shared on X. As reported by The Independent, the roughly two-minute loop featured a mug shot of Epstein captioned “No one bends the knee like the GOP,” followed by fast cuts branding several Trump allies as “Guardians of Pedophiles.” The spectacle echoed a similar projection the group rolled out in Los Angeles earlier this year.
What They Projected And Where
A recording shared on X shows the Kennedy Center loop jumping between archival clips of Trump and Epstein, the Epstein mug shot and on-screen taunts. The same sequence, according to the footage, played across multiple locations: the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the surface of the Reflecting Pool and a banner outside the Department of Justice. Quick-hit cartoons and chyrons framed figures such as Mitch McConnell and Kash Patel as “swamp creatures” and repeatedly flashed the numerals “86 47.”
Legal Context
The projections arrived against the backdrop of an ongoing court battle over the Kennedy Center’s attempted rebranding and plans to close for renovations. In a federal opinion that temporarily blocked the board’s renaming effort, the court wrote, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” CourtListener records show the dispute focuses on whether the trustees can unilaterally change the memorial’s name or order a two-year shutdown.
Kennedy Center's Response And The Tarp
The Kennedy Center has left scaffolding and a tarp in place where its large exterior letters once hung, and its executive director told the court that management is delaying the planned closure while programming decisions are paused. According to The Independent, the center said it will “maintain an operational model” beyond July 5 while deferring long-term programming and avoiding new bookings in the near term. That stripped-down, tarped facade has effectively turned into a blank canvas for projection artists.
Who Is VJayBombs
The elusive collective behind the clips, which operates under the handle VJayBombs, has staged high-visibility projections before and describes its output as satirical political street art. Reporters say the crew relies on laser projectors, lenses, laptops and battery packs to throw short, shareable videos onto buildings without causing damage. The Hollywood Reporter chronicled a similar stunt in Los Angeles, where the same approach turned facades into temporary, viral-ready billboards.
What Comes Next
There were no immediate reports of arrests connected to the D.C. projections, and spokespeople for the White House and the Kennedy Center did not issue public comments in the hours that followed. The videos will vanish long before the scaffolding does, but the stunt has trained fresh attention on both the tarp and the legal fight that produced it. For now, the covering meant to hide a naming dispute is serving as an unsolicited marquee for political theater.
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