Unpacking reports Tom Cruise refused Kennedy Center award from Trump
Social media users on X and Facebook (archived) spread the claim and praised the actor's supposed decision.
Numerous Snopes readers also searched our website and asked us if it was true that Cruise declined to be honored at the Kennedy Center by Trump.
Anonymous Kennedy Center employees were the main sources of this news, per The Washington Post. Unnamed individuals told the newspaper that Cruise declined the award on account of scheduling conflicts. Snopes does not rely on anonymous sources and could not independently verify the credibility of the sources the Post used in its report.
We reached out to Cruise's public relations team and the Kennedy Center and will update this story if we get more information. Given that Cruise's team has so far declined to comment to the media and the claim's original sources were anonymous, we were unable to rate this claim nor the implication by some that Cruise's supposed decision to decline the award was politically motivated.
The Post simply stated:
Actor Tom Cruise was offered the honors but declined because of scheduling conflicts, according to several current and former Kennedy Center employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss event plans. A spokesperson for Cruise declined to comment.
While some (archived) social media users (archived) appeared to imply that Cruise's supposed rejection of a Kennedy Center Honor was politically motivated, we found no evidence of this implication.
In May 2025, during a press event for his newest Mission: Impossible movie, Cruise sidestepped a question about Trump's tariffs, answering, "We'd rather answer questions about the movie. Thank you."
Cruise has not joined other celebrities like Taylor Swift (archived) or Sylvester Stallone — one of Trump's Kennedy Center honorees — in endorsing a particular political party or politician.
When selecting this year's honorees, Trump reportedly said at a March 2025 Kennedy Center board meeting, "We'll go slightly more conservative, if you don't mind, with some of the people. There are people out there that would not be considered that are much bigger stars than the ones that were being honored."
Snopes has frequently covered rumors about Cruise, including the fake story that he walked off "The View" after being questioned about Scientology, a movement the actor is an outspoken advocate for.
Hibberd, James. "Tom Cruise Rejected Getting a Kennedy Center Honor From Trump (Report)." The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Aug. 2025, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/tom-cruise-kennedy-center-honor-trump-1236345509/.
Keane, Danielle. Stallone Compares Trump to George Washington | CNN Politics. 2024. edition.cnn.com, https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/video/newsnight-stallone-compares-trump-to-george-washington-tonight.
Kingsberry, Janay, and Travis M. Andrews. "Trump to Host Kennedy Center Honors, Which Will Go to Stallone, Gaynor, Kiss and More." The Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/08/13/trump-kennedy-center-honorees/. Accessed 15 Aug. 2025.
McEntyre, Nicholas. Tom Cruise Declined Trump's Kennedy Center Honor Invitation Due to Scheduling Conflicts. 15 Aug. 2025, https://nypost.com/2025/08/15/us-news/tom-cruise-declined-trumps-kennedy-center-honor-invitation-due-to-scheduling-conflicts/.
Murphy, J. Kim. "Tom Cruise Sidesteps Talk About Trump's Hollywood Tariffs at 'Mission: Impossible' Press Stop: 'We'd Rather Answer Questions About the Movie.'" Variety, 9 May 2025, https://variety.com/2025/film/news/tom-cruise-sidesteps-trump-tariff-question-mission-impossible-1236392597/.
"The Kennedy Center Honors." The Kennedy Center, https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/honors/.
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