{"id":406298,"date":"2026-03-27T06:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406298\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:34:19","slug":"bill-maher-awarded-kennedy-centers-mark-twain-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406298\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher awarded Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Bill Maher will win the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center said Thursday, less than a week after the White House forcefully denied that the comedian, who has had a hot-and-cold relationship with President Donald Trump<\/a>, would win it. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,\u201d Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center\u2019s vice president of public relations, said in a statement. \u201cFor even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse \u2014 one politically incorrect joke at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher said in a statement that he \u201cjust had the award explained to me, and apparently it\u2019s like an Emmy, except I win.\u201d<\/p>\n

After The Atlantic reported last week that Maher would win the award, the White House pushed back hard. White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media that the story was \u201cliterally FAKE NEWS.\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also called the initial report \u201cfake news\u201d and said Maher \u201cwill NOT be getting this award.\u201d<\/p>\n

An administration official who refused to speak on the record about the award on Thursday said the situation changed after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers. <\/p>\n

The Kennedy Center has presented the award since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made significant contributions to humor and commentary in the United States. Previous winners include Conan O\u2019Brien<\/a>, Dave Chappelle<\/a>, Julia Louis-Dreyfus<\/a>, David Letterman<\/a>, Carol Burnett<\/a> and Tina Fey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The award will be presented on June 28, just before Trump plans to close the Kennedy Center for renovations expected to last about two years. Since returning to office, the Republican president has wielded tremendous influence over the venue, ousting its previous leadership<\/a> and replacing it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman. <\/p>\n

The board added Trump\u2019s name<\/a> to the Kennedy Center and approved the closure, actions that have prompted legal proceedings<\/a> that are ongoing. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman walks outside The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts on Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rahmat Gul, File)<\/p>\n

A woman walks outside The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts on Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rahmat Gul, File)<\/p>\n

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Maher and the president 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 Jay Leno\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show,\u201d Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump\u2019s choice if he 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 didn\u2019t 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

\u201cHe came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,\u201d Trump wrote online. \u201cHe was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself.\u201d Trump said the comedian admitted he was \u201cscared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher described the dinner as a \u201cgood time\u201d during his April 11 episode of \u201cReal Time,\u201d<\/a> noting that Trump was \u201cgracious and measured\u201d and not like the \u201cperson who plays a crazy person on TV.\u201d He said he wasn\u2019t scared.<\/p>\n

He took time in his \u201cNew Rules\u201d segment to point out the various Trump policies he liked, including the \u201cmass removal of stone cold criminals\u201d and making NATO members<\/a> pay \u201ctheir fair share.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you,\u201d he said. \u201dI always want the American president to succeed, and I do give credit when you have, but there\u2019s lots of stuff you do that is not my idea of success, and I have every right to say so in a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Mark Kennedy in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Bill Maher will win the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[7555,16139,95713,434,4949,100702,7560,30890,12432,356,18,117,3334,30892,19,17,18180,40260,55859,790,183727,15461,1436,35840,6043],"class_list":["post-406298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-bill-maher","tag-carol-burnett","tag-celebrities","tag-conan-obrien","tag-dave-chappelle","tag-david-letterman","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jay-leno","tag-julia-louis-dreyfus","tag-karoline-leavitt","tag-politics","tag-steven-cheung","tag-tina-fey","tag-trending-news","tag-united-states-government","tag-washington-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116299751721208418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}