Posted in: CBS, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: Kennedy Center, opinion, trump

CBS's Trump-Hosted Kennedy Center Honors Hits All-Time Ratings Low

This year's Donald Trump-hosted Kennedy Center Honors hit an all-time ratings low, pulling in more than 4 million fewer viewers than in 2024.

What do you get when you combine Donald Trump as host and a lineup of honorees that included Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, KISS, George Strait, and Gloria Gaynor? The lowest-rated Kennedy Center Honors awards broadcast in the annual event's television history. The December 23rd CBS broadcast averaged 3.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen Live + Same Day numbers. That would be a drop of 4.1M Live+Same Day viewers compared to 2024's Queen Latifah-hosted effort. Based on those numbers, maybe we have a clearer picture as to why he's been on a warpath against late-night host Stephen Colbert and the networks.

Trump Threatens Colbert, TV Networks in Creepy, Concerning Post Rant

Is it surprising that Trump would rage-post over an episode of CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that aired on Tuesday night but actually aired on December 8th? No. In fact, it seems only fitting. But what he rage-posted should raise some alarms, especially from an administration that constantly plays the bully/victim card. "This year's Kennedy Center Honors ceremony is the very first since Trump installed himself as chair of the Kennedy Center's board," Colbert shared during the opener to the episode from earlier this month. "It seems like the commander-in-chief shouldn't have enough time to run a theater. 'Mr. President, Mr. President, Russia has just launched another round of missiles. But first, dress rehearsal for 'Oklahoma' is underway, and the blocking is uninspired.'" From there, Colbert would call out "Grandpa Puddin' Skull" for confusing Colbert with Jimmy Kimmel, after Trump said he would do a better job hosting than Kimmel did – though Kimmel never hosted (as opposed to Colbert, who hosted for three years).

Well, it seems it took a little more than two weeks and/or a repeat episode for those words to hit Trump, who responded with a rant that included some thinly veiled threats at Colbert and the broadcast networks. "Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success. Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, 'put him to sleep,' NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!" Trump posted, using phrases like "dead man walking" and "put him to sleep" in ways that would have his MAGA lackeys in fake outrage if levelled against him.

"Who has the worst Late Night host, CBS, ABC, or NBC??? They all have three things in common: High Salaries, No Talent, REALLY LOW RATINGS!," Trump would offer as a follow-up before shifting his focus to pulling the licenses of TV broadcast networks who say things he doesn't like. "If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn't their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!" the star of the latest batch of Epstein Files releases shared, before adding, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!"

Here's what Colbert had to share more recently about Trump's Kennedy Center ego-stroke (which means Trump will probably comment on it sometime in January 2026):

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