The Kennedy Center is defending this year’s Kennedy Center Honors after the Donald Trump hosted telecast delivered all-time low viewership for CBS.
The Dec. 23 telecast averaged 3.01 million viewers on CBS, according to Nielsen Live + Same Day Panel + Big Data. That is an all-time low audience for the annual special, down from 4.1M Live+Same Day viewers last year when it aired on a Sunday with a football-boosted 60 Minutes lead-in. This year, the event was broadcast on a Tuesday.
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations for the center, said in a statement, “Comparing this year’s broadcast ratings to prior years is a classic apples-to-oranges comparison and evidence of far-left bias. The program performed extremely well across key demographics and platforms, despite industry and timing disadvantages, including a Tuesday air date two days before Christmas.
She added, “With overall television usage down roughly 20 percent year over year, the broadcast still tied for the #1 spot among adults aged 25–54, alongside a live NBA doubleheader. And on social media, Honors garnered 1.5 Billion impressions in just one night—up from only 50 Million similar impressions last year. This was a successful night celebrating the outstanding achievements of our Honorees at the Trump Kennedy Center.”
The social media data and 20% decline in usage could not immediately be corroborated (digital numbers do not have the same standard measurement that TV ratings via Nielsen does). After Trump’s takeover, the Kennedy Center has at times claimed media bias for stories that reflect negatively on the center’s operations.
The center also said that $23 million was raised from this year’s ceremony, what it said was nearly double the amount of last year.
Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, KISS, George Strait, and Gloria Gaynor were honored at the Dec. 7 ceremony, taped for later broadcast. It was the first time that a sitting U.S. president had hosted the ceremony. Weeks after he took office, Trump seized control of the center, firing Joe Biden and Barack Obama appointees to the board in a move that ensured that he would be selected as the arts institution’s chairman.
Last month, after the ceremony, the board voted to add Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, which was established by an act of Congress in 1964. Members of the Kennedy family objected to the renaming, while one ex officio member of the board, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), sued, contending that only Congress can change the name of the institution.
