CBS News aired the Kennedy Center Honors on Tuesday using a sharply edited Donald Trump monologue and mocking his controversial “Trump Kennedy Center” rebrand.
The new Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board voted on Dec. 18 to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” almost immediately leading to legal action.
Even as the 79-year-old president attempted to rebrand the country’s living room Tuesday evening by hosting an event called “The Trump Kennedy Center Honors,” CBS aired the 48th Kennedy Center honors with the institution’s long-running name, the Washington Post noted.
The president looked happy to be there as he arrived with first lady Melania Trump for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on December 7. / Brendan Smialowski / Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images
Behind the scenes, the paper said that while CBS News standards dictated that staff remain at the “Kennedy Center,” the board’s vote alone did not make the change official because Congress would have to approve it.
The network cut Trump’s opening remarks from about 12 minutes to about two minutes for viewers at home, cutting out some of his freewheeling — including his crack at the laughing crowd as “sad, horrible people.”
The 48th Kennedy Center Honors welcomed some of America’s biggest names … and Pete Hegseth. / Shannon Finney / Shannon Finney / WireImage
The on-air snub comes as CBS’ relationship with Trump has taken repeated hits, mostly 60 minutes in the center.
In July, the network’s parent company Paramount agreed to pay Trump’s presidential library $16 million for what it claimed was misleading editing of a Kamala Harris interview, a deal the company announced it would not apologize for.
Since then, Trump has continued his attacks on the network, though CBS has been accused of bending over backwards to appease him. In November, it aired a 28-minute version of Trump 60 minutes A sit-down with Norah O’Donnell, plus a separate 73-minute extended cut.
A new name has been given to the mouth of the place. / Heather Diehl / Heather Diehl / Getty Images
Yet it left a tense exchange in which Trump expressed concern over questions about the crypto mogul who was pardoned amid reports of a $2 billion deal tied to the Trump family’s crypto venture. The edits also removed Trump’s comments about CBS’ payments related to the deal.
Then came turmoil at the network’s leadership. After Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, 42, installed Bari Weiss, 41, as editor-in-chief of CBS News in October, the MAGA-curious owner of a 60 minutes segment at the eleventh hour last weekend.
It featured interviews with deportees sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison, with Weiss claiming the segment needed more work before airing. His last-minute decision sparked concerns of White House interference and anger inside the newsroom.
Barry Weiss has laid off most of his CBS staff in a matter of months. / Noam Galai / Getty Images for the Free Press
The episode spread further when the segment appeared anyway after the Canadian broadcaster aired it, and Paramount Skydance began issuing copyright takedowns on scrub ripostes.
Set against political pressure and concerns about corporate leverage, the network’s refusal to call the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center” in its biggest annual cultural broadcast — and cut Trump’s screen time — has raised more than a few eyebrows.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS and the Kennedy Center for comment.
