Monday, November 2, 2026

Kennedy Center Honors: Paul Anka, Andy Garcia, Barbara Mandrell, David Foster, David Mamet All Agree to Accept Award — No Black Recipients

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The Kennedy Center Honors have been announced the inductees for December 7th.

The chosen ones are Paul Anka, Andy Garcia, Barbara Mandrell, David Foster, and playwright David Mamet.

They all agreed despite the Kennedy Center not being open, and lawsuits flying in every direction.

Mamet is an avowed conservative, but he makes sense because his selection covers theater. His plays are performed all the time, and have become part of the culture.

I don’t know Andy Garcia’s politics, but the others are all very conservative as well.

Not that they don’t deserve it. Anka has an incredible song catalog. Imagine Donald Trump singing “My Way” on stage at the Capital One Arena.

David Foster has written a lot of hits, and produced them including Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” He can put on quite a show, including the group Chicago and Peter Cetera.

But there are no Black people involved — not one, and don’t tell me Andy Garcia covers that position. There should be real outrage that the Trump Kennedy Center is ignoring this massively qualified community.

No classical music? Not a shock. Trump has no idea what that is.

Nevertheless, it’s a better list than last year.

Now, let’s see if Trump hosts again.

Set on the Capital One stage, look for a big musical production, like the Grammy Awards for old people.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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