not planning<\/a> for now to build out programming.<\/p>\nCooper has asked for an update next month on how long the tarp will remain on the building. For now, the final event scheduled for the Kennedy Center’s well-known Concert Hall is \u201cThe Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration\u201d on July 3.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the ceremony, Lutnick said Trump \u201cwants to make this building sensational.\u201d<\/p>\n
But others were more skeptical. As he walked the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, Leno said Trump\u2019s moves at the Kennedy Center were both \u201chilarious\u201d and about \u201cvanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not a war,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s not people getting killed. It’s not anti Semitism. It’s a silly thing covering a name. I mean what’s funnier than that? I mean it’s just like, you know it’s high school with money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maher and Trump have a fraught relationship<\/h2>\n
Given Trump’s sway over the Kennedy Center, Maher’s selection for the award was notable because the two men have long had a fraught relationship.<\/p>\n
Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Leno\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show,\u201d Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump\u2019s choice if Trump could prove he was not \u201cthe spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher did not pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.<\/p>\n
The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year.<\/p>\n
Maher hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show heading into the weekend. Vance, who is promoting a book, said he watches the show and laughed at Maher’s monologue \u201ceven though you were making fun of me.\u201d During the interview, Maher pressed Vance on the Iran war, immigration enforcement and election conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys have two outcomes that an election can be,\u201d Maher told Vance. \u201cEither we win or they cheated. That s\u2014- has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Twain prize ceremony will air on Netflix on July 21.<\/p>\n\n
Associated Press videojournalist John Carucci contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Comedian Bill Maher was being awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday in what might be one of the last major onstage moments at the Kennedy Center for the next several years. The award has been presented since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2479871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[413499],"class_list":["post-2479870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ap-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Comedian-Bill-Maher-wins-Twain-humor-prize-as-the-Kennedy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2479870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2479872,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479870\/revisions\/2479872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2479871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2479870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2479870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2479870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}