The Kennedy Center Honors is relocating from its namesake venue for the first time — but two months before the event, its honorees, broadcaster, and host remain a mystery.
That’s according to The Washington Post, which reported Friday that the event is scheduled for Dec. 7 at Washington’s Capital One Arena. But amid the Trump administration’s ongoing battle over the Kennedy Center’s closure, little else is known.
“We don’t know who is in the 49th class of honorees or what kind of crowd will greet them,” the Post’s Travis M. Andrews wrote Friday.
“We don’t know who will broadcast it,” he added. “Finally, we don’t know who would host it."
Honorees are typically announced in midsummer. A center spokesperson told the Post that further details would be announced later.
The uncertainty follows President Donald Trump’s takeover of the storied institution and its board. Trump hosted last year's ceremony himself and said he was “about 98 percent involved” in selecting its honorees, according to Andrews.
With a maximum seating capacity of 20,000, the gala’s new venue, Capital One Arena, “dwarfs the 2,347 seats of the center’s Opera House,” the post reported.
The main building remains temporarily closed for safety checks, which could take up to two weeks, the outlet said Friday. But a staff email cautioned that those checks provide “an assessment timeline,” and “not a reopening date.”
