President Donald Trump has fantisized out loud about renaming the Kennedy Center after himself.
Having long blasted the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for being too “woke,” Trump crowned himself chairman, elevated his loyal lieutenant Richard Grenell, and stacked the board with White House insiders—prompting a slew of artist walk-outs and staff departures.
Now, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Trump mused about putting the cherry on top of the center’s transformation as he announced that nominations for its award ceremony would be dropping soon.
“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” he quipped, jokingly renaming the cultural hub in his image.
“They will be announced Wednesday. Tremendous work is being done, and money being spent, on bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment,” he added.
“It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!! President DJT.”
While Trump’s social media post appears tongue-in-cheek, his recent influence on the center has been deep. The nominees he has touted could take on a very different shape to those that have gone before.
Trump has complained in the past about a lack of MAGA representation in the Kennedy Center Honors, traditionally a bipartisan event. In March, he floated expanding the event to include politicians, executives, athletes and dead people.
The honors aren’t handed down posthumously, but that didn’t stop Trump from musing about his vision for the awards. “Elvis sells better as a dead man,” Trump reportedly said, after also suggesting bestowing honors on Luciano Pavarotti and Babe Ruth.
He detailed his gripe with past nominees and their apparent wokeness. “In the past, I mean, these are radical left lunatics that have been chosen. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t watch it. And the host was always terrible,” he said, throwing shade at Queen Latifah, according to audio of a meeting obtained by the Washington Post.
“We’ll go slightly more conservative, if you don’t mind, with some of the people,” Trump said, referring to future honorees, the Post reported in March.
“There are people out there that would not be considered that are much bigger stars than the ones that were being honored. Just get some good people, some people who are worthy,” Trump added. “Because some of the people that they put on are just, just terrible.”
He also brought up the idea of hosting the honors ceremony himself because he’s “the king of ratings, whether we like it or not.”
Earlier this month, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the organization could be planning to drop the rainbow-colored ribbon which it awards to annual lifetime achievement honorees and symbolizes diversity in the performing arts.
CBS News reported that the honors weekend will be changed, with a new streamlined schedule, instead of several events at the White House, State Department, and other locations.
