Norman Lear is honored that The Kennedy Center has chosen to honor him — alongside Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J, Lionel Richie, and Carmen de Lavallade — for the center’s annual celebration of the arts in 2017.
But Lear will skip the traditional pre-show reception at The White House. Thanks, Trump. Or, make that, no thanks, Trump.
Lear, an outspoken opponent of Trump — just listen to my podcast with Norman Lear from October 2016 (Episode #119 of Last Things First) — isn’t happy with the current administration’s plans to stop funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lear informed the Kennedy Center of his position when they called to announce the honor.
“Feelings don’t go away, thoughts and opinions don’t vanish,” Lear told Variety. “I heard [about the honor] and they understood exactly how I felt.”
UPDATED: Lear clarified his position on this Saturday…
…the honors. What I’m not accepting is the @WhiteHouse reception with @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/yCxS3RxIr7
— Norman Lear (@TheNormanLear) August 4, 2017
How he’ll feel potentially sitting next to Trump during the ceremony at the Kennedy Center? We’ll have to see how that turns out in December.
If anything can bring us hope & encouragement in these difficult times, it has to be the arts and humanities. TY @kencen for this honor. pic.twitter.com/nWD7aFTdzx
— Norman Lear (@TheNormanLear) August 3, 2017