President Donald Trump used Saturday’s Oval Office medal ceremony for the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees to preview his turn as host of the annual telecast—and to take aim at one of his most frequent late-night critics, Jimmy Kimmel.
“I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump told the honorees and members of the press while presenting this year’s medals. He added: “If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”
Trump will become the first sitting president to host the Kennedy Center Honors when the show tapes Sunday. The move is the latest step in a significant reshaping of the institution following Trump’s January return to office. Shortly after inauguration, he ousted the board of trustees and replaced them with loyalists, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who later voted him in as chairman of the board.
Trump has publicly emphasized his role in selecting the 2025 honorees, saying he was “98% involved” in the choices. This year’s class includes George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, and members of KISS. He has also acknowledged rejecting several potential recipients. “They were too woke. I had a couple of wokesters,” he said in August.
Saturday’s remarks also included Trump’s own ratings forecast. “I’m going to make a prediction,” he said. “This will be the highest rated show they’ve ever done.” He then offered a preemptive critique of the critics he expects: “I’m sure they’ll give me great reviews, right? You know they’ll say ‘he was horrible. He was terrible. It was a horrible situation.’ No, we’ll do fine.”
Kimmel, for his part, has never hosted the Kennedy Center Honors. His only prior involvement was a tribute to David Letterman during the 2012 ceremony.
Trump and Kimmel have traded insults for the better part of a decade, although their public back-and-forth has intensified in recent weeks as late-night hosts have repeatedly hammered Trump over the Epstein files. Just over two weeks ago, Trump renewed his call for ABC to fire Kimmel in a late-night social media post, which Kimmel rebuked on his show later the same day.
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