Thursday, December 26, 2024

Queen Latifah Will Host Last Kennedy Center Honors for Four Years Attended by a President

The Kennedy Center Honors will be hosted this year by the great Queen Latifah.

Latifah is a great choice since she was recently inducted herself, and also because she’s a CBS star (of “The Equalizer”). She’s essentially the new LL Cool J.

This may be a historic Kennedy Center Honors since it’s likely to be the last for a while involving the White House. The Bidens will host the inductees and other guests, and then attend the show.

But once Donald Trump and co arrive, we’ll probably go back to the scenario of his first administration. No inductee will agree to be hosted, Trump will disavow the whole enterprise anyway. No one wants him sitting there with Elon Musk and Melania waving from the presidential box.

Trump’s only interest in “culture” is something that benefits or advances his personal wealth and agenda. By next year’s Honors he will have probably deported millions of people, created internment camps, slashed the NEA budget, closed libraries, and threatened most creatve people’s livelihoods.

This year’s inductees include Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, what’s left of the Grateful Dead, and a tribute to NY’s Apollo Theater. Still not in: Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda, Denzel Washington, and so on.

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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