Norman Lear, a longtime progressive, and one of five Kennedy Center honorees, is protesting President Trump. Blair Raughley/Blair Raughley/Invision/APhide caption
The first Kennedy Center Honors of the Trump administration is already making waves after recipient Norman Lear announced he would be boycotting the White House reception ahead of the the awards.
I could never turn my back on the @kencen. It represents the Arts and Humanities which mean everything to me. Of course, I’m accepting...
— Norman Lear (@TheNormanLear) August 4, 2017
"As an artist and a human being, I cannot celebrate this incredible honor ... at a White House that has no interest in supporting the Arts and Humanities," the legendary television producer and writer tells NPR's Elizabeth Blair.
President Trump has proposed eliminating the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, reports Blair.
But despite his opposition to Trump, Lear says he will accept the award.
In a pair of tweets posted Friday, Lear said, "I could never turn my back on the @kencen. It represents the Arts and Humanities which mean everything to me. Of course, I'm accepting the honors. What I'm not accepting is the @WhiteHouse reception with @realDonaldTrump."
Lear produced such beloved 1970s sitcoms as The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and One Day at a Time.
But it is his creation of Archie Bunker, from All in the Family, whom Lear has described as "a lovable bigot," that perhaps still resonates most strongly. The character, played by Carroll O'Connor, delivering off-color zingers in New Yawkese might remind some of a certain figure occupying the Oval Office, reportsThe New York Times.
But Lear has said he believes Archie Bunker wouldn't have even voted for Trump. Last year, the 95-year-old Lear told The Daily Beast:
"I think Donald Trump is shrewd in a way Archie never was ... Archie Bunker was far wiser of heart. Sure, the thoughts he held were antediluvian. But Donald Trump is a thorough fool, having nothing to do with the shrewdness that has allowed him to cheat and steal the way he has for his own good. Underneath that, he is a fool."
Lear — a longtime outspoken progressive — founded People For The American Way, a progressive advocacy group in 1981.
As The Times reports, the Kennedy Center Honors has for years been a time for recipients to put politics aside, as artists of all stripes have sat alongside Republican and Democratic Presidents. But celebrity has been intertwined with Trump — a onetime host of NBC's The Apprentice — since the first day of his campaign.
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