Donald Trump-Hosted Kennedy Centers Honors 2025 Reach Lowest Ratings Ever

The 2025 Kennedy Center Honors television special aired a week ago on CBS and Paramount+.

This marked the 48th annual ceremony for the gala where recipients are celebrated for their honors given to those in the performing arts and their lifetime of contributions.

This year, Donald Trump hosted the event, which honored the likes of George Straight, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone.

A week after the ceremony aired on television, the ratings have been released and they are not great.

Keep reading to find out more…

According to The Wrap, the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors received only 3.01 million viewers, the lowest audience for the Honors ever.

This was even lower than the 2021 program, which had COVID restrictions, bringing in 4.1 million.

“At the request of the Board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event,” Trump shared on Truth Social the morning the ceremony aired on TV. “Tell me what you think of my ‘Master of Ceremony’ abilities. If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?”

Several days before the ceremony aired, Trump announced he was renaming The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, adding his own name to the institution after taking control of the board and making several changes.

Trump‘s renaming of the center has been met with intense backlash, including from a member of the Kennedy family.

Just recently, several artists have canceled upcoming shows that were to take place at the Kennedy Center after the President added his own name to it.