Bill Maher Will Get Kennedy Center Award Despite White House Calling it ‘Fake News’
What To Know
- Bill Maher will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in June, despite initial denials from the White House.
- The White House has clarified that the situation changed after further discussions.
- Maher and President Trump have a contentious relationship, with both exchanging public criticisms in recent months.
Real Time host Bill Maher will be the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Trump-Kennedy Center in June, despite previous claims from the White House that the report was “fake news.”
On Thursday (March 26), Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement, per the Associated Press, “For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy. For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”
Maher will receive the award at a ceremony on June 28, one of the venue’s last events before it shuts down for a two-year renovation.
The Atlantic first reported last week that Maher was to receive the award, but at the time, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung blasted the report as “Literally FAKE NEWS.”
Literally FAKE NEWS https://t.co/9NSDzbZCDH
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) March 20, 2026
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the same, writing on X, “This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award.”
Per Deadline, a White House official shared a new statement on Thursday, saying, “This was false reporting at the time of the Atlantic’s reporting, but the situation changed after further conversations took place between the Trump-Kennedy Center and event organizers over the past week.”
Maher has long had a contentious relationship with Trump, despite attending a White House dinner with the president last year. In February, Trump ranted against the podcast host on Truth Social, saying, “It was a total waste of time for me to have this jerk at the White House.”
“Bill Maher is a highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT, and Republicans should stop using him to show how the Left is coming over our way – Our Base, the Greatest of All Time, laughs at your weakness when you do it!” the president added.
Maher fired back at Trump on a March episode of HBO’s Real Time, saying, “Someone has to help Donald Trump understand that I don’t suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. He suffers from Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome.”
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO
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