President Donald Trump took another swipe at fired CBS host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, when he announced that he will be hosting the Kennedy Center Honors this year following Colbert’s hosting streak.
With the announcement, Trump seems to be twisting the knife into his late night nemesis, who was recently fired from The Late Show with some speculating that his ouster was part of a “secret side deal” to ensure that Paramount’s $8.6 billion merger with Skydance Media was approved by the FCC.
Colbert hosted the Kennedy Center Honors from 2014 to 2016, before he and other celebrities avoided the Center in the years that followed after Trump was elected the first time.
Trump insisted during the Wednesday announcement that he didn’t want to host but his staff urged him to do it, noting that he had previously hosted The Apprentice.
“I have agreed to host—do you believe what I have to do?” he said, as he also announced the honorees, which include Trump-friendly acts like Sylvester Stallone and KISS.
The news that Trump will host the ceremony comes after the shock cancellation of Colbert’s Late Show, which Trump took credit for as he mocked the host on social media.
“It’s really good to see” Colbert’s show be canceled, he wrote to Truth Social last month, and expressed his hope that he “played a major part in it!”
CBS’ parent company Paramount was seeking his approval for its $8 billion merger to Skydance the week Colbert was axed.
In the midst of his CBS-related glee, Trump joked on Truth Social Tuesday that there were “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS.”
