Friday, December 5, 2025

Tom Cruise Turned Down Trump Offer of Kennedy Center Honor, Citing Work Conflict, But He’s Not Shooting Anything in December

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Tom Cruise didn’t want to be part of Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center travesty.

The Washington Post says Cruise turned down Trump’s offer of an honor, citing scheduling conflicts.

But the Kennedy Center event is usually the first week in December. Cruise has nothing in production set for that time. He will have finished “Broadsword,” and maybe in pre-production for “Top Gun 3.”

Even if he were in a shoot, a two day jaunt to Washington, DC would be nothing for globe-trotting Cruise. And nothing is required besides just showing up. Others would have done tributes to him.

Cruise may not be the only potential honoree to decline being involved in Trump’s crapfest. That’s the likeliest reason the list of honorees is so dreadful. Who would say yes other than a small group of right wingers? Better yet, who will appear in the presentation? And who will be in the audience? The mind boggles.

Cruise can easily wait it out until 2029, when he would definitely be candidate for a Kennedy Center honor. Who knows what his personal beliefs are? But as a savvy box office man, he’s wise enough to know that doing anything to support Trump would turn off a chunk of his audience.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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