Donald Trump to skip annual Kennedy Centre Honours

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump and his wife Melania will skip the annual Kennedy Center Honours in December after some of the honorees said they would boycott a White House reception traditionally part of the weekend of festivities.

“The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction,’’ White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Saturday.

Three of the five artists being honoured had said they may not attend the White House reception planned for December 3, the latest in a string of public rebukes of the president over his handling of a white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a week ago.

It’s also the latest sign that Trump is abstaining from many of the ceremonial aspects of the presidency, and that he’s cutting a much smaller figure on Washington’s social scene than his predecessors.

The December White House reception won’t take place but other weekend events will go ahead as planned, the Kennedy Center said.