{"id":731161,"date":"2026-06-28T14:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731161\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T14:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:52:09","slug":"humor-laurels-for-maher-as-the-kennedy-center-navigates-trump-era-upheaval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731161\/","title":{"rendered":"Humor laurels for Maher as the Kennedy Center navigates Trump-era upheaval"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Comedian Bill Maher<\/a> will be awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor<\/a> on Sunday in what might be one of the last major onstage moments at the Kennedy Center<\/a> for the next several years.<\/p>\n

The award has been presented since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made significant contributions to humor and commentary in the United States. In announcing<\/a> the honor in March, the Kennedy Center described Maher as someone who has long influenced American comedy \u201cone politically incorrect joke at a time,\u201d a reference to the late-night show \u201cPolitically Incorrect\u201d that he hosted for much of the 1990s and helped lift him to prominence. <\/p>\n

Previous winners include Conan O\u2019Brien<\/a>, Dave Chappelle<\/a>, Julia Louis-Dreyfus<\/a>, David Letterman<\/a>, Carol Burnett<\/a> and Tina Fey<\/a>. Woody Harrelson<\/a>, Arianna Huffington and Jay Leno<\/a> are among the celebrities expected to appear at the Sunday night ceremony.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a>, who has spent much of his second term reshaping the performing arts venue, is not expected to attend.<\/p>\n

The awards come at an awkward moment for the Kennedy Center, long one of the few relatively nonpartisan institutions in Washington. Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president fired<\/a> much of the center\u2019s leadership and installed a board largely composed of allies. It named Trump as chairman and his name was added to the building\u2019s iconic facade, prompting a legal battle that became a proxy fight over the extent of the president\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Trump later said the Kennedy Center would close in July for a two-year renovation. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper upended those plans in May by ruling<\/a> that Trump\u2019s name was illegally added to the building, ordering it removed. The judge also has blocked the closure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

A legal saga that could be fodder for jokes<\/p>\n

The legal fight has turned into a saga that could be easy fodder for jokes at the Twain gala.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s name has come down from the building, in compliance with the judge\u2019s order. But the part of the building once covered with letters spelling the president\u2019s name is now shrouded in a tarp. The full closure is on hold. Lawyers for the Kennedy Center have said they are not planning<\/a> for now to build out programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court\u2019s order did not affirmatively require the Board to reschedule programming that had previously been cancelled or to seek new programming,\u201d the lawyers wrote in a court filing this month.<\/p>\n

Cooper has asked for an update next month on how long the tarp will remain on the building. For now, the final event scheduled for the Kennedy Center\u2019s well-known Concert Hall is \u201cThe Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration\u201d on July 3. <\/p>\n

Maher and Trump have a fraught relationship<\/p>\n

Given Trump\u2019s sway over the Kennedy Center, Maher\u2019s selection for the award is notable because the two men have long had a fraught relationship. <\/p>\n

Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Leno\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show,\u201d Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump\u2019s choice if Trump could prove he was not \u201cthe spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher did not pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.<\/p>\n

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,\u201d Trump wrote online. \u201cHe was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself.\u201d Trump said the comedian admitted he was \u201cscared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher, during his April 11 episode of \u201cReal Time,\u201d<\/a> described the dinner. He said Trump was \u201cgracious and measured\u201d and not like the \u201cperson who plays a crazy person on TV.\u201d Maher said he was not scared.<\/p>\n

He took time in his \u201cNew Rules\u201d segment to point out the various Trump policies he liked, including the \u201cmass removal of stone cold criminals\u201d and making NATO members<\/a> pay \u201ctheir fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maher hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show heading into the weekend. Vance, who is promoting a book, said he watches the show and laughed at Maher\u2019s monologue \u201ceven though you were making fun of me.\u201d During the interview, Maher pressed Vance on the Iran war, immigration enforcement and election conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys have two outcomes that an election can be,\u201d Maher told Vance. \u201cEither we win or they cheated. That s\u2014- has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher\u2019s selection for the award was itself the subject of drama. <\/p>\n

After The Atlantic reported in March that Maher would win the award, the White House pushed back hard. White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media that the story was \u201cliterally FAKE NEWS.\u201d Trump\u2019s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also called the initial report \u201cfake news\u201d and said Maher \u201cwill NOT be getting this award.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation evolved after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers.<\/p>\n

Beyond Maher, other celebrities expected to appear on Sunday have had up-and-down relationships with Trump. The president and Huffington, for instance, have feuded at points for more than a decade. <\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith, the sports analyst who is among those expected to appear at the ceremony, recently knocked Trump for attending the NBA Finals earlier this month in New York. Smith, who has signaled political ambitions of his own, called the move \u201cselfish\u201d and \u201cnarcissistic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Comedian Bill Maher will be awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1927,314903,10161,51308,236322,16237,112026,13724,3505,12,1070,88,793,801,17974,6009,98894,17153,98700,111,3692,74802,123522,800,127805],"class_list":["post-731161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ap-top-news","tag-arianna-huffington","tag-bill-maher","tag-carol-burnett","tag-christopher-cooper","tag-conan-obrien","tag-dave-chappelle","tag-david-letterman","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-iran","tag-jay-leno","tag-jd-vance","tag-julia-louis-dreyfus","tag-karoline-leavitt","tag-political-and-civil-unrest","tag-politics","tag-stephen-a-smith","tag-steven-cheung","tag-tina-fey","tag-washington-news","tag-woody-harrelson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}