LL Cool J has become the first rapper to receive a Kennedy Center honor
Donald Trump skipped this year’s Kennedy Center Honors—the fourth time a president has done so in 40 years and the first time that it didn’t involve a national emergency or convention—but The New York Times says that his mere existence still cast a bit of a stupid shadow over the evening. Iconic TV producer Norman Lear, one of the honorees, dropped some fire regarding Trump’s absence, saying, “We happen to have somebody in the White House who doesn’t care about the arts and humanities,” and that he was “smart to stay away” since it’s “something he does on weekend anyway.”