Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials accepted high-value tickets to the Kennedy Center Honors gala from CBS and its parent company, Paramount, even as the agency reviewed Paramount's billion-dollar merger deals.

Commissioner Olivia Trusty received tickets valued at over $12,000 after voting in favor of a Paramount merger, while FCC Chair Brendan Carr accepted tickets worth at least $63,000. According to Kennedy Center guidelines, such seats can sell for up to $125,000 each.

Ethics experts, including Walter Shaub, former head of the Office of Government Ethics (2013–2017), criticized the acceptance of these gifts, stating, “There’s no way that any top federal regulator should ever, ever accept a gift from a regulated company with interests their work will foreseeably affect. The appearance of taking gifts like that is terrible.”

A 2009 memo from the Office of Government Ethics permits federal employees to attend Kennedy Center events but explicitly prohibits accepting free attendance offered by anyone other than the Kennedy Center and its trustees, officers, or employees. In 2016, these gift rules were tightened to prevent any appearance of lost impartiality.

The FCC defended the practice, noting that chairs and officials have attended the event consistently across multiple administrations—from Obama to Trump to Biden—with no recent changes.

However, former White House ethics lawyer Canter expressed skepticism about the FCC’s position, saying it would be a “stretch” to classify the Kennedy Center’s annual gala, featuring celebrity honorees and performances, as a widely attended industry event exempt from gift restrictions.

This controversy highlights concerns about potential conflicts of interest as the FCC continues to oversee significant media mergers involving companies from which its officials have accepted valuable gifts.

Sources