Tom Cruise reportedly turned down a chance to be honored by President Donald Trump with an award at the Kennedy Center, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/08/13/trump-kennedy-center-honorees/">The Washington Post</a>.
The outlet reported that the “Top Gun: Maverick” star cited “scheduling conflicts” when asked to attend the gala at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., on December 7.
Cruise, 63, remains silent on political issues, and <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/tom-cruise-sidesteps-trump-tariff-question-mission-impossible-1236392597/">redirected</a> the conversation when a Korean reporter pressed him on the issue of Trump and tariffs at a press junket for “Mission: Impossible 8” earlier this year.
“We’d rather answer questions about the movie. Thank you,” the actor said.
Notably, Cruise has a history of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63992399/">skipping</a> awards shows, especially considering how fans believe he’s been snubbed by the Academy on multiple occasions after being nominated for an Oscar three times, but never winning.
President Trump made headlines earlier this week when he announced this year’s Kennedy Center honorees personally during a press conference.
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This year’s celebrity honorees include country singer George Strait, legendary actor Sylvester Stallone, the rock band KISS, “Phantom of the Opera” actor Michael Crawford, and singer Gloria Gaynor, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-announces-kennedy-center-nominees-says-he-rejected-wokesters">reported</a>.
“The 48th Kennedy Center Honorees are outstanding people, incredible, we can’t wait … in a few short months since I became chairman of the board, the Kennedy Center, we’ve completely reversed the decline of this cherished national institution,” Trump said during his speech on Wednesday.
When asked if he participated in the selection process, Trump said he was “about 98% involved” and that “they all came through me.”
The president flat out said he turned down certain suggestions for being too “woke.”
“I turned down plenty, they were too woke. … I had a couple of wokesters. No, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be,” Trump added. He went on to mention other Hollywood awards shows, which seemingly take an opposite approach.
“Look at the Academy Awards — it gets lousy ratings now, it’s all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump, but nobody likes that. They don’t watch anymore,” Trump said.

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Tom Cruise Reportedly Turned Down Trump’s Invite To Kennedy Center Awards

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Tom Cruise Reportedly Turned Down Trump’s Invite To Kennedy Center Awards