If Donald Trump hosts the Kennedy Center Honors this year, he can count on at least one late-night host to tune in.
Jimmy Kimmel reacted to Trump’s interest in hosting the event during his monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. “This is something I’m excited about,” he teased.
In audio from a Kennedy Center board meeting obtained by the New York Times, Trump had suggested hosting the Kennedy Center Honors himself amid his radical takeover of the organization, calling himself the “king of ratings.”
“If you announced that, every network will start bidding on it, going crazy,” he said.
Kimmel, for one, is open to that idea.
“That would be so great,” Kimmel joked. “Him hosting an award show, me at home tweeting insults while he does it.”
Indeed, the arrangement would turn the tables on Trump, who criticized Kimmel’s performance hosting the 2024 Oscars in real time on Truth Social. Trump’s rant led to a now infamous onstage zinger from Kimmel — “Isn’t it past your jail time?” — that set Trump off for days.
“Let’s do this,” Kimmel continued last night. “Let’s squeeze that load into a tuxedo, push him out on stage, and let him do a forty-minute monologue about windmills and sharks.”
Kimmel went on to offer up a guess as to what Trump meant when he teased “big surprises” at this year’s ceremony, as well as a prediction of who will be honored. Kimmel’s take on the Kennedy Center saga can be viewed in full below
Official plans for this year’s 48th Kennedy Center Honors have not yet been announced.
