Ratings for the Kennedy Center Honors took a sharp decline this year. The poor turnout comes shortly after Donald Trump added his name to the historic forum.
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump, averaged 3.01 million viewers, according to a report from Nielsen Live + Same Day Panel + Big Data. That represents a 25% dip from last year’s numbers. The 2024 show hit a record low of 4.1 million viewers after reaching 4.5 million viewers the year before.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
Trump is the first sitting president to host the Kennedy Center Honors, which celebrate “individuals whose unique contributions have shaped our world,” according to the organization’s website. This year’s honorees were George Strait, Sylvester Stallone, KISS, Michael Crawford and Gloria Gaynor.
On Dec. 6, the day before the event, Trump told reporters at the White House, “It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night.”
Trump has set his sights on remaking the Kennedy Center in his image during his second term, even going so far as to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” in mid December. The name change has been met with significant blowback, and several scheduled acts have canceled their upcoming performances as a result.
