Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
The show wrapped its fall season up 145,000 viewers from the week before.
The episode featured Ariana Grande, Cher, and the exit of Bowen Yang.
Total viewers were 540,000. The prior week had been just 3.95 million.
Cher was key to the success even though she lips synched her first song. Fans didn’t care. They’ve been downloading “Play a Christmas Song” ever since then, and it’s a hit on iTunes.
“SNL” struggles with hosts and musical guests always. Also, as a friend from TV points out, their numbers coincide with the weather. If it’s cold out, people stay in.
That should mean when “SNL” returns January 17th, Finn Wolfhard from “Stranger Things” and rapper-actor A$AP Rocky should be a big deal. Special guests could come from “ST” and maybe we’ll see Rihanna, Rocky’s wife or whatever, join in.
As for Bowen Yang, he’ll be missed as much as Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, and Michael Longfellow. No one likes change.
Now if someone could just convince not to marry her boytoy, or to make him an ironclad pre-nup, that would be a Christmas miracle!
Last night’s terrible Kennedy Center Honors was a ratings disaster.
So speculates TV expert reporter Joe Adalian.
Writing on his popular TVMoJoe X account, Adalian says:
“Last year, the KENNEDY CENTER HONORS scored its smallest audience ever (4.1M viewers) In 2022, it did 5.2M viewers Still too early for a final number, but based on early data, so-called “Trump” KenCenter Honors will be least-watched ever and may lose to HIGH POTENTIAL reruns…
“Data is wonky right now with Nielsen’s new “big data” panel. But in prelims, KenCen did just 2.65M. Even with a 25% lift, the show still finishes in the mid-3M range– well below last year. In demos, it’s even more of a massacre– currently at a 0.14, roughly HALF of 2024 show.”
The show was hosted by Donald Trump, and it was a failure on all counts. Producer Robert Deaton treated it like it was the Country Music Awards. Trump pre-taped introductions to the honorees sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office. (Sitting because he can’t stand that long.) It looked like he was between Big Macs. He was dressed in street clothes.
Whoever writes the Twitter X account for the US Department of Justice responded to a public query this morning by calling another account “you dope.”
Jamie Dupree, a political gadfly, actually this exchange below with DOJ account. When he asked the DOJ account why they would release something fake — in this case, the purported letter from Jeffrey Epstein to convicted rapist Larry Nassar just before Epstein’s death — this is what transpired:
The exchange was followed by a query from congressman Thomas K Massie, who asked: “By the way, who’s controlling the DOJ X account on Christmas Eve and using words like “dope” to refer to reporters?”
Dupree, separately, responded: “A badge of honor and a great Christmas gift! The Trump Department of Justice calling me a dope.”
Who IS running the account, a drunk Jeanine Pirro?
One thing Donald Trump is good at: celebrating mediocrity. He appeals to the masses, the Wal Mart crowd.
So his first Kennedy Center Honors fulfilled the mission. He went straight for the lowest common denominator.
The show was taped before Trump renamed the Center in his own honor, so the graphics still read “Kennedy Center Honors.”
But the CBS announcer voiced “Trump Kennedy Center Honors” as the show began.
Immediately there were two glaring differences in the Trump era. There was no mention made of President John F. Kennedy, for whom the theater complex is named. In every year since this began there has been an introduction explaining how we all got here. That was gone.
Then, the traditional backdrop wall with all the names of past recipients was replaced by a Las Vegas type set. There was no reference to past winners with one exception. Garth Brooks, appearing for KISS, wore his real Kennedy Center medal. He included the multi colored ribbon that Trump has ditched. Trump thought it ooked too gay. Brooks thumbed his nose in a very subtle way.
Even though members of the National Symphony Orchestra did their best to make the show look good, there were some other omissions. For Sylvester Stallone, no appearance from his long time “Rocky” wife Talia Shire. Also, nothing from Ryan Coogler, who revived “Rocky” with his “Creed” movies.
“Phantom of the Opera” star Michael Crawford looked shocked all night. He’s really a British star, which was evident when his clip reel included scenes from things we don’t know about. “Phantom” is his American credit. He was a young star of “Hello, Dolly!” so a singer sang his song from the show. But she was female, even though the song is a duet. Why didn’t they have a male singer to play his character?
The George Strait section will play big time with MAGA and Trump backers. All the participants are country stars. They’re the Cracker Barrel audience, the meat and potatoes of MAGA.
Gloria Gaynor? Nice lady, I’m sure. But it’s hard to sing a medley of her hits, when she basically had one, maybe 1.5. Good for her. She also looked surprised. But Trump — who seemed to be sleeping through the show — did seem energized by “I Will Survive.” He’s hoping he can considering what’s going on with Epstein, etc.
Assuming Trump will be back next year, who can we expect? Lee Greenwood, Jon Voight, Johnny Mathis or anyone else who’s professed fealty to the orange monster.
UPDATING. CBS was happy to cave to Trump. Their announcer called tonights show “The Trump Kennedy Center Awards.”
After decades of erudite hosts, tonight’s Kennedy Center Honors is captained by the biggest boob in modern history, a mam who takes pride for knowing nothing about art and culture, who resents that he doesn’t understand anything he sees or hears on a stage.
That’s Donald Trump, who is trying to rename the Kennedy Center putting his derided moniker first. He’s being sued today by a member of the ex-officio board, a congresswoman whose mic was muted so she couldn’t speak when a unanimous vote was shoved through in the most Soviet way.
Tonight’s show features subpar honorees Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, cosplay rockers KISS, and the only recipient for whom a case could be made, country star George Strait.
The show was recorded two weeks ago, before Trump affixed his name to the arts institution. So far, CBS has kept his name off the press, But stay tuned…
Donald Trump’s certain to be a debacle Kennedy Center Honors is on CBS tonight — by coincidence his new mouthpiece network.
Meantime, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, an ex officio trustee of the board, has filed suit against Trump, et al for illegally changing the name to the Trump Kennedy Center.
Trump’s world is burning down around him.
Here’s the press release.
December 22, 2025 – Congresswoman Joyce Beatty today sued President Trump and others to stop the unlawful renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the Congresswoman in her capacity as an ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center by the Washington Litigation Group and Democracy Defenders Action. Congresswoman Beatty participated in the recent Board meeting and alleges she was prevented from speaking when she attempted to object to the renaming.
“Only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center. President Trump and his cronies must not be allowed to trample federal law and bypass Congress to feed his ego,” said Congresswoman Beatty. “This entire process has been a complete disgrace to this cherished institution and the people it serves. These unlawful actions must be blocked before any further damage is done.”
Shortly after President Kennedy’s assassination, Congress designated the Kennedy Center as the sole national memorial within the nation’s capital to the late President. The lawsuit argues that because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.
The suit follows a December 18, 2025 announcement that the Board had voted to rebrand the Kennedy Center with President Trump’s name, and the rapid installation of new exterior signage and related digital branding changes the next day. The lawsuit contends that the Board’s action is legally void and damages the institution’s public mission by turning a national memorial into a political vanity project.
“The President and his sycophants have no lawful authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” said Nathaniel Zelinsky, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group and Amb. Norman Eisen (ret.), founder of Democracy Defenders Action. “Congress named the Kennedy Center as a national memorial to President Kennedy, and only Congress can change that. We are proud to represent Congresswoman Beatty as she defends the integrity of this institution and the separation of powers.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to declare the Board’s renaming vote unlawful and without legal effect, order removal of the physical and digital signage and branding changes, restore the Kennedy Center’s lawful name, and prevent further attempts to rename it without congressional authorization.
WLG’s lead lawyers on the case are Senior Counsels Nathaniel Zelinsky and Kyle Freeny. Also on the complaint from WLG are: Thomas C. Green, John Aldock, Samantha P. Bateman, Elizabeth D. Collery, Mary L. Dohrmann, James I. Pearce, Barry Wm Levine. WLG is litigating the case alongside Democracy Defenders Action.
CBS’s new owners, the Ellisons, and Bari Weiss, didn’t want us to see it. But now it’s going to be required viewing on Christmas weekend.
At the same time, thousands of people are posting the Epstein files without redaction. Many really talented people who know how to do it have made searchable indexes that show Donald Trump mentioned 625 times in the redacted files — after the DOJ’s original version didn’t mention him at all.
“The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already. Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”
Actually there’s enough cross reference to put Trump in a very bad spot.
And don’t forget Bill Clinton. He’s so sure of his innocence that he’s demanded a full, unredacted release of everything. It was a genius move which should dispel rumors about him.
It just gets better and better!
BREAKING: Some of the Trump DOJ's redactions on the Epstein files weren't redacted correctly and can be unredacted and seen!
I'll explain the process at the end of this thread.
Donald Trump sanctioned the kidnapping and torture of Venezuelan prisoners. He sent them to CECOT, a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Alfonsi notes that Kristi Noem, infamous for shooting a dog she didn’t like, visited the prison and made it seem like El Salvadoran prisoners who’d been there a long time were the unadjudicated Venezuelans. She knew they were being tortured and did nothing about it.
That Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of “60 Minutes,” killed this story is disgraceful and unacceptable. She clearly did it to please her new bosses at Paramount — David Ellison and his father, Larry — and Donald Trump.
Luckily some intrepid Canadians picked up the broadcast and sent it out to US sites which have now begun distributing it.
There is much to say about this catastrophe. But what about the people who voted for Donald Trump? Do you not believe this? Can anything be any clearer? We’re going to hear accusations against the Trump administration now that must be taken seriously.
Alfonsi was right in her note to the CBS team this morning. Weiss’s cancellation of the story was “political.”
