Asked if Trump would be invited next year, Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center, said: “Absolutely.
Senator Rand Paul and Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the former president John F Kennedy, declined to comment.
With other honours recipients expressing support for Lear’s position, Trump announced that he and first lady Melania would skip the showpiece.
It was the 40th annual Kennedy Center Honors and only the fourth time the president did not attend, following Jimmy Carter in 1979, George Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 1994.