The Kennedy Center Honors saw a sharp drop in ratings as President Donald Trump presented the ceremony, which aired on Tuesday. The news comes as Trump has been attempting to rename the center after himself despite needing the approval of Congress.
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors ratings dropped by 35%
The awards show, which airs on CBS, reportedly “drew its smallest ever audience on December 23, averaging an estimated 2.65 million viewers,” according to preliminary Nielsen data and as reported by Programming Insider. “To put that in perspective: the 2024 broadcast averaged 4.1 million.”
Rating for the annual event dropped by 35%. Trump has previously alleged that the center’s board and “just about everybody else in America” asked him to present the ceremony, The Independent reported.
He is the first president to have hosted the award ceremony, which was recorded on Dec. 7 and was broadcast earlier this week. His remarks lasted 12 minutes but CBS cut them down to two minutes, according to The Washington Post.
Trump has been attempting to rename the Kennedy Center after himself
On Tuesday morning, Trump referred to the event as “THE TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER HONORS” as the center’s board voted last week to rename the venue after him.
Yet, CBS News told staffers to refer to the event’s original name instead of the “Trump Kennedy Center Honors.” The network’s leadership said it would continue to refer to both the event and the building as the “Kennedy Center” as a change would require the approval of Congress.
“If the president or other administration officials use the new name in a soundbite, that is their prerogative,” an email obtained by The Washington Post read.
“We should NOT be calling it Trump Kennedy Center, or the Trump Kennedy Center Honors, unless quoting from those who don’t realize an official name change only comes from Congress,” another note to a staffer indicated.
Trump’s wanting to rename the Kennedy Center after himself has been subject to criticism.
“Under current law, there I think is very little question that the Kennedy Center board cannot rename the Opera House after Melania Trump or pretty much anybody else and would need Congress’s permission for anything like that,” David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, told The Washington Post earlier this year. “That statute is pretty unequivocal, and I can’t really find any loopholes in it.”