Tom Cruise is at that stage of his life and career where he’s picking up lifetime achievement awards at a steady clip. He will receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards. I imagine the Golden Globes will offer him the Cecil B. DeMille Award at some point. He’s probably in line for a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in the next few years as well. Well, Tom has never been offered the Kennedy Center Honors before now. Before this year, the Kennedy Center usually picks people well into their 60s, 70s and 80s, so I would assume they always believed that they would have time enough to honor Tom. But now that Donald Trump and his MAGA cultists have taken over the Kennedy Center, Trump decided that this year, he needed to give an award to Tom. Tom said “nope.”
Tom Cruise reportedly declined to be among the first group of Kennedy Center Honorees during President Donald Trump’s second term. Cruise, 63, was offered but declined due to “scheduling conflicts,” several current and former Kennedy Center employees told The Washington Post on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
A spokesman for Cruise declined to comment to the Post. PEOPLE also reached out to a rep for the actor, but has not heard back.
Trump, 79, ramped up efforts to take control of the Kennedy Center arts complex earlier this year. George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone make up the 2025 class of honorees. The ceremony will take place on Dec. 7 and will later air on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
While unveiling the recipients at the Kennedy Center’s Hall of Nations, Trump said he was “very involved” in picking the group.
“I would say I was about 98 percent involved. They all went through me,” the president said, per the Post. “… I had a couple of wokesters. Now, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be, very different.”
I think there was probably an assumption among the MAGA-installed board of the Kennedy Center that Tom would be open to it, especially coming from them. But no, Tom is not interested in this sh-tshow. It’s another reminder of just how much Trump has defiled – he handed out presidential medals of freedom to every Republican lunatic he could find, and now he’s trying to do the same with the Kennedy Center.
Also, during the announcement for the honors this week, Trump revealed why he’s been obsessed with the Kennedy Center – it’s because he wanted to be honored. He said: “Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been among the most prestigious awards in the performing arts. I wanted one. I was never able to get one. I waited and waited and waited, and I said, ‘The hell with it. I’ll become chairman.’ I’ll give myself an honor. Maybe… next year we’ll honor Trump.” This is pathetic.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Tom Cruise attends the Global Premiere of Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning at Leicester Square Gardens on the 15,05,2025,Image: 1000167921, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: JIMMY JAMES/Avalon
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- Tom Cruise attends the Global Premiere of Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning at Leicester Square Gardens on the 15,05,2025,Image: 1000168099, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: JIMMY JAMES/Avalon
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- Actor Tom Cruise after being presented with the US Navy Distinguished Public Service Award by US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, during a ceremony at Long Cross Studios in Chertsey, Surrey. The award is presented by the navy to civilians who have carried out acts of valour or heroism, or who have demonstrated extraordinary service on behalf of the Navy over a lengthy interval. It is the most prestigious US Naval award given to civilians. Featuring: Tom Cruise Where: Chertsey, United Kingdom When: 17 Dec 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Cast at the premiere of the movie ‘Mission: Impossible 8 – The Final Reckoning’ at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Square. Tokyo Featuring: Tom Cruise Where: Tokyo, Japan When: 06 May 2025 Credit: Kento Nara/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
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- Cast at the premiere of the movie ‘Mission: Impossible 8 – The Final Reckoning’ at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Square. Tokyo Featuring: Tom Cruise Where: Tokyo, Japan When: 06 May 2025 Credit: Kento Nara/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
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- United States President Donald J Trump makes remarks as he participates in a ceremony prior to signing the bill that strengthens prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US Featuring: Donald J Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 16 Jul 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump addressing the media at the White House as he announced the deployment of the National Guard Featuring: President Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Aug 2025 Credit: Yuri Gripas/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump addressing the media at the White House as he announced the deployment of the National Guard Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Aug 2025 Credit: Yuri Gripas/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
Smart. It will be interesting to see who says yes, now that Tom has given celebrities cover for turning it down.
And what has Trump ever done in a category that the Kennedy Center Honors covers? The Apprentice? LOL.
The presidency. He’s now being open and up front about the fact that it was always a performance— entertainment for his ticket holders and his box office fees — not governing for the good of the country.
They have been selected and they are Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait,Michael Crawford and Kiss
Tom is already in a cult and doesn’t want to be associated with trump’s cult.
Good point. The leader of his cult might be offended.
That’s my explanation. A person can only belong to one cult and worship its leader at a time. I think it’s monotheism.
Tom’s face looks so rubbery.
Agree, Tom has enough 💩 on his plate with his space craft alien cult that MAGA is one more he could do without.
Good for Tom.
I’ve never particularly liked Tom but kudos. Very smart move.
Yep, agreed. And I like how his people have just said ‘scheduling conflicts’ & left it at that, not even bothering to respond to further inquiries.
Wait, what? Why would Trump want a Kennedy Center Honor? He’s not in the performing arts! That doesn’t make sense!
Hey all you Republicans who were crying with fake outrage about kids receiving participation trophies just for being there for years and years, this is your guy????
I’m sure he’ll cite THE APPRENTICE and HOME ALONE 2 as his lifelong contribution to the culture.
That one time he butchered the Green Acres theme song at the Emmy’s?
Why would Trump want a Nobel Peace Prize? Well, besides Obama having one….Trump wants ALL the prizes. Let’s see if Trump asks for a knighthood too.
Seriously though, now that he’s taken over the Kennedy Center, he probably thinks he deserves to be honored as a supporter of the arts. It’s “prestigious “— and he’s been clamoring for recognition from society doyennes since he was a shifty builder in NY. Shiny prizes seem to matter more to him than actual accomplishments.
He did use a reality show as a springboard to the United States Presidency though, so I guess that counts as a masterful art performance of a sort.
Good for Tom Cruise — who has had many accomplishments throughout his career.
He wants a Pulitzer and a Nobel too
A Pulitzer? For what, his tweets? 🙄. I know he’s been demanding a Nobel, ain’t gonna happen.
By the by, Gov Newsom has been savagely trolling trump’s tweets & I am loving it! Oooh, give Gavin the Pulitzer! 😉
He wants to name it after Melania…we all know what she’s famous for and it ain’t the arts.
What’s the saying? A broken clock is always right twice or something like that…
Good news! I might even stop boycotting his films.
Taco is shameless and he already asked Norway’s minister to give him a Nobel Peace Prize. Yeesh
Good for him.
His professional career is the EXACT opposite of his personal choices.
While I strongly oppose Scientology because of its abusive practices, I do realize that people are complex and how they will act or their thoughts can’t be boiled down into neat little assumptions. Of course, I don’t know Tom Cruise AT ALL lol, but at least in terms of his public persona, the man LOVES cinema and the arts generally. I do think that is an overriding value of his. What that means to him in terms of his politics, he’s extremely non-public about it and I honestly have no idea.
But, it seems very likely to me that purely from an arts perspective, and very possibly from a strong desire to have the arts not be politicized, that Tom Cruise would not agree with what Trump is doing at the Kennedy Center. It’s kind of odd to imagine, but I could easily see Tom being an “institutionalist” in terms of how arts organizations are managed. This is kind of like taking over the Oscars in a way. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if on this very specific issue, Tom Cruise is actually quite opposed to Trump’s changes. I don’t know if that extends to any other issues around Trump, but on this, I could see it.
He’s also pro-cinema in a very, very broad way. Again, he doesn’t talk about politics, but he definitely supports “left” filmmakers and movies. All for the cinematic value I think! He went way out of his way to hype Sinners and was like honorary promotor of the Barbie/Oppenheimer campaign.
Also, the man closed the Olympics. He is legitimately an international superstar. One of the very few. He lives a very international life and has for some time. I’m not sure that Tom would care so much about a US-centric award, not that he wouldn’t like it, just that I don’t think he’d care enough to compromise his view of supporting artists and the arts.
Cruise is also viewed as the Savior of Paramount, even though they ended their decades long relationship a year ago, so Trump’s shenanigans against CBS/Paramount could be a factor too.
Oh excellent point! Yeah, the issues that Tom Cruise appears to really value seem to be very, very narrow, but Trump has put himself smack dab in the middle of them!
I’m assuming that since trump’s taken over, Caroline will no longer be a part of the Kennedy Center honors and they’ll just have wormbrain come in to say a few words?
Gloria Gaynor??? They’re down to Gloria Gaynor, already? Whom are they going to pick for next year, Mike Lindell?
“Down to Gloria Gaynor”? Trump loves disco (Google him dancing to YMCA, it’s pitiful) and Gloria Gaynor was a total disco queen back in the 70s (I was around then and clearly remember her massive hit songs “I Will Survive”, “Let Me Know”, “I Am What I Am”). She’s a far cry from Pillow Man.
For once, Bravo, Tom.