Ex-CNN anchor ruthlessly mocked for comparing fall of Berlin Wall to removal of Trumps name from Kennedy Center
A former CNN anchor turned YouTube content creator live-streamed for nearly 11 hours from Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning awaiting the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., only to make an absurd comparison that ended in widespread mockery.Jim Acosta, a known anti-Trump media figurehead, was CNN’s chief domestic correspondent and anchored “CNN Newsroom” from 2021 until early 2025.He worked for the network for 18 years in total, but left unceremoniously when executives proposed moving his morning show into the midnight to 2 a.m.
slot.Acosta hosted the marathon coverage, which he dubbed a live watch party, on “The Jim Acosta Show” on YouTube.The coverage mostly featured a live shot of scaffolding, obscured by a tarp, behind which workers toiled to remove Trump’s name from the building.“This is very much like watching the Berlin Wall coming down,” Acosta said in a strange comparison made around 3:30 a.m.“It is a sign that mankind, that humankind can stand up against tyranny,” he continued.
“As long as it took, we pledged to continue to have this coverage going, and by golly, we did, because we knew how much this meant to a lot of people out there, and we know how important this was.”In December 2025, the board of the Kennedy Center voted to rename the performing arts complex to the “Donald J.Trump and John F.
Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” which drew backlash from the political left.A Democratic congresswoman sued to have the change nullified, and a federal judge last week ruled that the center’s original name, John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, must be restored.Before the climax of Acosta’s evening, he had given up on the stream and retired to bed, leaving his producer behind to keep watch.
He missed the removal of the letters, but was alerted to the goings on by his producer.“It looks like they are potentially touching the letters,�...