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Tom Cruise has been within the information rather a lot currently, largely resulting from his budding romance with Ana de Armas.
However now, the Mission: Not possible star is making headlines for a really completely different purpose.
And whereas Tom often eschews politics to be able to hold the general public’s concentrate on his motion pictures (and stunts), his newest motion may place him squarely within the middle of the nation’s unending hyper-partisan household feud.
Did Tom Cruise simply publicly snub Donald Trump?
Yearly, the Kennedy Middle honors a number of Individuals for his or her cultural contributions.
A medal from the group is taken into account one of many highest honors an artist or entertainer can obtain, and this 12 months’s honorees embody George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor, and Sylvester Stallone.
However regardless of a suggestion from the White Home, Tom Cruise won’t be available to obtain an award when the annual ceremony takes place in December.
In response to a report from The Washington Publish, Cruise has declined to be among the many first group of Kennedy Middle nominees for Trump’s second time period.
Unnamed Kennedy Middle workers say that the display legend turned the provide down resulting from “scheduling conflicts.”
In fact, that’s the excuse celebs at all times give once they don’t need to attend an occasion. And the ceremony — which continues to be a number of months away — would solely require a pair hours of Cruise’s time.
The politicization of the Kennedy Middle honors
Prior to now, the Kennedy Middle was a largely apolitical group. However nothing is apolitical in 2025.
Trump introduced his intention to take over operations of the Kennedy Middle shortly after taking workplace for his second time period.
And within the months since, he’s proceeded to do precisely that.
Actually, Trump intends to host this 12 months’s ceremony, an unprecedented transfer for a sitting president.
Trump grew to become chairman of the Kennedy Middle Committee again in February, and he says he took a hands-on method to choosing this 12 months’s honorees.
“I might say I used to be about 98 p.c concerned. All of them went by me,” the president mentioned, per the Publish.
“I had a few wokesters. Now, we now have nice individuals. That is very completely different than it was once, very completely different.”
The Publish additionally quotes Trump as saying he at all times wished an award from the Kennedy Middle, however “was by no means capable of get one.”
“I waited and waited and waited, and I mentioned, ‘The hell with it, I’ll change into chairman and I’ll give myself an honor,’” he continued, including, “Subsequent 12 months, we’ll honor Trump, okay?”
We could by no means know for positive why Cruise opted out of any involvement on this 12 months’s awards.
However we’re guessing that December’s presentation ceremony will probably be in contrast to some other in Kennedy Middle historical past.
