President Donald Trump‘s first batch of Kennedy Center honorees will be missing one major name.
A report from the Washington Post revealed that none other than Mr. Movies himself, “Mission Impossible” star Tom Cruise, turned down the lifetime achievement award.
Sources who spoke to the outlet on the condition of anonymity said Cruise turned down the honor due to scheduling conflicts.
Trump took over the board of the Kennedy Center earlier this year and said he was heavily involved in this year’s selection process. The president announced the honorees earlier this week, spotlighting singers George Strait and Gloria Gaynor, the rock band KISS, Broadway legend Michael Crawford and actor Sylvester Stallone.
Trump bragged about keeping the nominations free of “woke” stars on Wednesday.
“They all went through me,” he said. “I turned down plenty… I had a couple of wokesters.”
The president didn’t root out all the celebs who have been critical of him. KISS frontman Gene Simmons initially supported Trump in his first term, but criticized Trump’s effect on the country in later interviews.
“Once upon a time, you were embarrassed to be publicly racist and out there with conspiracy theories. Now it’s all out in the open because he allowed it,” Simmons said in a 2022 interview with Spin.
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