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Tom Cruise has been within the information rather a lot currently, largely as a consequence of his budding romance with Ana de Armas.

However now, the Mission: Unimaginable star is making headlines for a really totally different cause.

And whereas Tom often eschews politics in an effort to hold the general public’s concentrate on his motion pictures (and stunts), his newest motion would possibly 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 People 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 yr’s honorees embrace George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor, and Sylvester Stallone.

However regardless of a suggestion from the White Home, Tom Cruise won’t be readily available to obtain an award when the annual ceremony takes place in December.

In accordance with a report from The Washington Put up, Cruise has declined to be among the many first group of Kennedy Middle nominees for Trump’s second time period.

Unnamed Kennedy Middle staff say that the display legend turned the supply down as a consequence of “scheduling conflicts.”

After all, that’s the excuse celebs at all times give once they don’t need to attend an occasion. And the ceremony — which remains to be a number of months away — would solely require a pair hours of Cruise’s time.

The politicization of the Kennedy Middle honors

Up to now, the Kennedy Middle was a principally 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.

In truth, Trump intends to host this yr’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 strategy to deciding on this yr’s honorees.

“I might say I used to be about 98 p.c concerned. All of them went by way of me,” the president mentioned, per the Put up.

“I had a few wokesters. Now, we now have nice folks. That is very totally different than it was once, very totally different.”

The Put up 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 turn out to be chairman and I’ll give myself an honor,’” he continued, including, “Subsequent yr, we’ll honor Trump, okay?”

We could by no means know for positive why Cruise opted out of any involvement on this yr’s awards.

However we’re guessing that December’s presentation ceremony can be not like every other in Kennedy Middle historical past.