What you need to know
The Kennedy Center Honors had been pre-recorded before the institution’s name was changed, but CBS began broadcasting it Tuesday night with a voiceover saying, “And now the Trump Kennedy Center Honors…”
CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors on Tuesday, Dec. 23, amid the controversial name change of Washington, D.C.’s iconic performing arts venue.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt announced on December 18 that the Kennedy Center, dedicated in 1964 as a living memorial to slain President John F. Kennedy, will now be known as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center.
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony was pre-recorded before the host organization’s name change, and it remains unclear whether CBS will rebrand the broadcast to reflect President Trump’s preferred name for the center.
In the end, CBS titled the special “48th Kennedy Center Honors” to match the footage of the ceremony, but added a voiceover before the broadcast that read, “And now on CBS, the Trump Kennedy Center Honors.”
Simultaneously with the narration, a frame reading “Kennedy Center Honors” appeared on the screen, with the words “The following is a production of Donald J. Trump and the Kennedy Center” appearing below.
In a Dec. 18 statement regarding the new name, the Trump Kennedy Center, Levitt claimed that the facility’s MAGA-aligned board of directors “voted unanimously” to change the center’s name. But Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Directors who has automatic voting rights due to her position in Congress, claimed she was silenced when she tried to oppose the change.
“To be clear, I was on that call and when I expressed my concerns, asked questions, tried to push the button to absolutely not vote yes, I was silenced,” Beatty said in a video shared on X on Dec. 18. “The online participants were not allowed to express their concerns, but were ultimately told it was a unanimous vote.”
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
The Kennedy Center was established by an act of Congress, and Trump’s critics have argued in recent days that only Congress has the authority to officially change its name.
Still, the Kennedy Center almost immediately updated its logo on its website and social media to read “Trump Kennedy Center,” and Trump’s name was added to a sign outside the building the next day.
Prominent members of JFK’s family, including grandson Jack Schlossberg, grandson Joe Kennedy III, and nieces Maria Shriver and Kerry Kennedy, spoke out against the unusual effort to put Trump’s name on another president’s monument.
Tracy Salazar/CBS
While hosting the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, President Trump took the time to chastise the audience.
“If there’s one thread that ties all of these great artists together, it’s the word persistence,” he said. “I can tell many of you in the audience, I know many of you, and you’re persistent,” Trump said, adding, “Many of you are miserable, horrible people.”
Mary Kou/CBS
Kennedy Center Honors is an annual event that recognizes artists who have had a significant impact on American culture through music, dance, theater, opera, film, and television.
President Trump made history at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors as the first sitting president to host the event, honoring the likes of Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford. The award recipients were selected by the Kennedy Center Board of Directors, handpicked by President Trump.
Trump’s appointees to the board voted him chairman of the Kennedy Center earlier this year, giving him unprecedented control over the historically bipartisan organization.
