Donald Trump To Visit Kennedy Center Amid Report He Will Assert More Control Over Who Is Honored
Donald Trump will make his first visit to the Kennedy Center today since he ousted leadership and ensured that he would be chairman of the D.C. arts institution.
While the center has been beset by cancellations of major shows by artists protesting the Trump takeover, the president told reporters that 'we have to straighten it out. It is not a good situation. Like everything else in this country.'
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The New York Times reported that Trump will address a Kennedy Center board meeting this afternoon, amid a proposal that would give the president more control over who is honored every year as part of the Kennedy Center Honors. The resolution would give the chairman — Trump — the power to select who would be part of an honors advisory committee.
During his first term, Trump skipped the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, bucking a tradition that dated to its inception in 1978. Trump made the announcement after the 2017 slate of honorees was announced. One of them, Norman Lear, said that while he would attend, he would skip the pre-ceremony reception at the White House in protest of the president's proposed cuts in arts funding. Other honorees followed in their pledges to boycott the event.
CBS has an agreement to broadcast the ceremony through 2025, but it is unclear what will happen after that point.
The network has broadcast the honors since its start, typically airing the ceremony around Christmas.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
The honorees have been selected via solicitation from the Board of Trustees, the artistic community and the general public. The Honors Advisory Committee — which last year was chaired by David Bohnett and included a mix of past recipients and other artists — recommends each ceremony's recipients, who were then confirmed by the executive committee of the board.
When Trump took office, the board was split almost evenly between Trump appointees from his first term and Joe Biden's selections during his term. But Trump ousted Biden's appointees, and instead installed his own loyalists and supporters, including his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
The honorees in 2024 included Francis Ford Coppola, The Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval and the Apollo Theater.
Trump has criticized the Kennedy Center in general for going 'woke,' attacking the appearance of a drag performer in its programming lineup. But even before Trump took control, the Kennedy Center's highest profile programming included shows that were hardly controversial, including Riverdance and The Sound of Music.
Trump's takeover has led to some artists canceling their shows, including the producers behind the blockbuster Hamilton, which was to run next year. Another show that was dropped, the children's musical Finn, will have a benefit performance in New York this evening. The Kennedy Center said that the show was canceled for financial reasons, and the decision was made before the takeover. But the producers said that they were informed after the new leadership was installed.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance was booed as he entered for a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra, a reflection of what has been the center's core audience: Democratic strongholds in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, including many government workers hit by the Trump administration's widespread cuts to the federal workforce.
It's unclear who Trump would like to see honored at a Kennedy Center ceremony. But he has named Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as his 'ambassadors to Hollywood.' During his first term, he presented the National Medal of Arts — an honor that has been ultimately selected by the president since it was started in 1984 — to Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Mary Costa, Alison Krauss and Voight.
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