Breaking news: HBO‘s Real Time host Bill Maher will not be receiving this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the prestigious comedy award handed out each year by The Kennedy Center.
However, The Atlantic reports that Maher was offered the award from the institution now called the Trump Kennedy Center … before the White House intervened to stop it.
“This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Mark Twain Prize has been awarded since 1998 (last year’s honoree was Conan O’Brien, shortly after President Trump installed his own board of directors and a new director in Ric Grenell). Grenell has since left the institution, which will also close for two years to undergo extensive renovations.
Maher would not be out of place as an honoree (past recipients included Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Tina Fey, and Kevin Hart, among many others), except for his on again, off again feud with President Trump, who has taken an interest in the recipients of the Center’s honorees.
Maher had dinner with Trump last year, at the invitation of their mutual friend Kid Rock, but in February Trump called it a “waste of time.”
“Fortunately, his Television Ratings are so low that nobody will learn about his various Fake News statements about me,” he added. “He is no different than Kimmel, Fallon, or Colbert but, I must admit, slightly more talented!”
Maher responded on his HBO show, explaining the dinner and their interactions afterward.
“It’s a shame you can’t take criticism, because in an alternative universe where we could have further honest conversations, I could say things to you that might be quite helpful, like, Don, I’m going to level with you. I’m going to give it to you straight. Some people don’t like you,” Maher said. “I always want the American president to succeed, and I do give credit when you have, but there’s lots of stuff you do that is not my idea of success, and I have every right to say so in a democracy.”
The Mark Twain Prize has traditionally been awarded in March, before the special streams on Netflix, which has the rights to the event. The Atlantic reports that Maher was still deciding whether to accept when the offer was rescinded. It’s not immediately clear what happens next.
Maher, of course, will have a chance to respond himself on his show, tonight.
