While drama has surrounded the Kennedy Center following President Trump’s takeover as its board chairman, a night of comedy honoring Conan O’Brien has not been caught in the crossfire.
The annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony “is continuing as scheduled,” a Kennedy Center representative told ITK in a statement this week.
Last month, the performing arts institution announced late-night TV personality O’Brien as the recipient of this year’s Mark Twain Prize for its March 23 gala event.
The Kennedy Center’s then-president, Deborah Rutter, praised O’Brien at the time for bringing his “unique blend of the smart, silly, insightful, and hilarious into our homes.”
The news that O’Brien would be recognized with the annual comedy award — poised to air on Netflix — came just weeks before Trump unexpectedly announced he was naming himself as chair of the Kennedy Center’s board.
The commander in chief said the move to boot multiple members of the Board of Trustees, including its long-serving chairman, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein, was an effort to remove individuals “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Trump later said, “We’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be woke. There’s no more woke in this country.”
After Trump was elected chairman earlier this month by his hand-picked board, the Kennedy Center terminated Rutter’s contract, the institution’s interim president, Richard Grenell, said in a statement.
Several stars, including musician Ben Folds, producer Shonda Rhimes and opera singer Renée Fleming stepped down from their roles with the Kennedy Center after Trump took control of its board.
“Insecure” actor Issa Rae announced she was canceling her sold-out March performance of “An Evening With [Me]” at the Washington space due to what she called an “infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums.”
O’Brien said in 2023 that Trump was “bad for comedy.”
“You can’t parody something that already has that crazy, irregular shape. It’s not possible,” the former “Tonight Show” host told Kara Swisher.
“So I always thought that when Trump came along, what a lot of people had to revert to is, ‘Doesn’t he suck? I hate that guy. He’s an asshole.’ And those aren’t jokes,” O’Brien said.
“That’s his greatest crime, that he’s hurt political comedy by being so outlandish himself,” O’Brien, 61, said.
Representatives for O’Brien didn’t respond to a request for comment.
