Bipartisan show of support for Bill Maher at Kennedy Center, as Trump looms large

In The Know Bipartisan show of support for Bill Maher at Kennedy Center, as Trump looms large Comments: by Judy Kurtz - 06/29/26 5:41 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Judy Kurtz - 06/29/26 5:41 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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It’s an award fully focused on comedy, yet some serious drama surrounded the Kennedy Center as Bill Maher received this year’s Mark Twain Prize. But the controversy about the name and future of the Kennedy Center didn’t stop several stars and a bipartisan group of lawmakers from heading to the performing arts hub in a show of support for the “Real Time” host.

“It’s kind of goofy if you’re going to boycott coming here to an event,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told ITK on the red carpet ahead of the 27th annual Mark Twain Prize ceremony on Sunday.

“I don’t care what name’s on [the Kennedy Center building], I’m going to show up, especially if I have an opportunity to honor Bill Maher, without a doubt,” Fetterman said.

The ceremony for Maher came just weeks after a federal judge’s May ruling that blocked the rebranding of the Kennedy Center to include President Trump’s name. The Kennedy Center board of trustees — which last year, in an unprecedented move, Trump named himself as chairman — appealed the judge’s order. The Mark Twain Prize ceremony was originally billed as the final major event at the Kennedy Center ahead of a two-year closure for renovations, in a controversial move announced by the president. The federal judge also halted the closure.

A few signs of Trump’s influence remained — a tarp covering the name of the Kennedy Center on the exterior of the building was visible as well as a portrait of the president that hung near the red carpet.

Stephen A. Smith told reporters that giving the top comedy award to Maher — a frequent critic of the president — was a “testament to the First Amendment and free speech, speaking your mind, being candid and unapologetic about it, while also being informed and having a tremendous gift that most people don’t have to make you laugh.”

Maher, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed, possesses some rare bipartisan appeal.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said that Maher invited him to the Kennedy Center event after a recent appearance on his HBO show. Khanna said that both Democrats and Republicans dig Maher because “he’s got a good sense of humor.”

“He’s just honestly very inquisitive, kind of has that commonsense approach to politics,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said.

“I wish I could duplicate him and get him elected to office, but I think he’d probably never allow that,” Luna said.

“He says a lot of things that we wish we could say,” Fetterman said.

After hosting Maher for dinner at the White House last year, Trump ripped the comedian in February, calling him a “highly overrated lightweight.” The White House had initially dismissed a report that Maher was poised to join the ranks of David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and receive the Kennedy Center’s award, calling it “fake news,” before saying that “the situation changed after further conversations took place.”

Maher, 70, defended the dinner with the commander in chief and didn’t shy away from name-checking Trump. Before accepting his Mark Twain Prize, comic and impersonator Matt Friend came onstage mimicking Trump.

“I found you not at all to be so belligerent. We all have the same question when we see you that way: Why can’t you always be that guy?” Maher, speaking to Friend as he played Trump, said.

“Everybody would want to see a guy who doesn’t just pull s— out of his ass,” Maher exclaimed.

“I am the least full of s— president in history,” Friend, as Trump, replied.

Some of the night’s entertainers also noted the drama at the Kennedy Center.

“Lot of controversy,” former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno said, “The Kennedy Center was not Bill’s first choice, but the Playboy Mansion was unavailable.”

“President Trump not happy about giving Bill this award,” Leno said.

“You think he’s mad now? When he finds out next year, the recipient is Bad Bunny,” Leno quipped in a reference to the Puerto Rican rapper who performed at Super Bowl LX’s halftime show and faced strong criticism from the president.

“The president, when he is in attack mode, never fails to say that I am part of the lunatic left,” Maher said. “Well, he’s not wrong that there is one — I’m just not part of it. And there sure is a lunatic right.”

“When either side gets mad at me because I put them in jokes — jokes that work — my message to them is simple: You want to not get mocked, stop being funny. When you’re ridiculous, they do work. And when people laugh, you’re caught,” Maher said.

“I would like to thank the haters,” Maher told the crowd.

“You have helped me more than you could know. Because of you, I never got complacent. I never believed my own press, because there wasn’t any. I never phoned it in. I never lost my edge. And I never lost the bond I have with my audience, because that’s all I ever had, and all I ever needed.”

Other performers and public figures who were on-hand to laud Maher included Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Louis C.K., John Mellencamp and Arianna Huffington.

The Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Maher is scheduled to stream on Netflix beginning July 21.