The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in honor of Bill Maher will stream on Netflix on July 21, the Kennedy Center announced Monday.
Recently announced guests for programming include Louis CK, Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno, John Mellencamp and Stephen A. Smith. The concert itself is scheduled to take place on June 28 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
“We are thrilled to once again collaborate with Netflix to bring the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor — the nation’s most prestigious comedy honor — to audiences everywhere,” said Roma Dharavi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center. “Comedy fans will have a front row seat to an evening of comedic candor, not to be missed.”
This event has already sparked controversy. The Kennedy Center announced Maher as the recipient after members of the Trump administration reported in AtlanticThe suggestion that Maher was the recipient is “fake news.”
“This is fake news. Bill Maher will not receive this award,” White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said at the time.
The Kennedy Center itself was also at the center of the controversy. After President Donald Trump appointed himself president of the center and appointed members of its board of directors, the board voted to add Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center’s title. However, a judge ruled in May that the Kennedy Center must remove Trump’s name from the building, since the center had been designated as a memorial to the late president by Congress.
The Mark Twain concert was initially supposed to be the last scheduled event before the center closed for two years for renovations, according to the Kennedy Center. (The center also lost a number of scheduled concerts and artists, after Trump took control of the institution.) But the same judge halted plans to close the center. On Monday, executives said the plan is for the Kennedy Center to remain open for the time being, but no acts are booked at this time, according to the Daily Mail. The Washington Post.
