Donald Trump isn’t immune to awkward situations, and he once again landed himself in one this time, engaging in a teleprompter gaffe when he was handing out medals to several entertainment giants. On Saturday President Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors medal presentation, where the recipients were actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss, as well as actor-singer Michael Crawford.
Things went on smoothly, but a technical disruption took place, while Trump was introducing Strait. “We have a country music legend — got it? Turned off. Got it?” Trump said this, pointing towards a teleprompter off-camera. And then, he continued to read from the notes in front of him, but that awkward moment that took place for seconds has drawn a lot of online ridicule.
The teleprompter was broken, the escalator came to a sudden hault, says US President Donald Trump on his first ever address at UNGA in the 2nd term. pic.twitter.com/aEgyCpGKwo
— Nitin Singh 🍃 (@Kohlliers) September 23, 2025
“He’s arguing with the teleprompter again. The teleprompter is winning,” someone on X commented. “Got it? Turned off. Got it? Grandpa is beefing with the stage equipment now,” they added. In recent times, this is Trump’s second mishap with a teleprompter. The President and his wife, Melania Trump, went on to light the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., earlier this week, where it seemed like Trump rushed the countdown as his teleprompter suddenly came into view.
The paid did the counts quickly with FLOTUS doing the honors of lighting the tree. With the tree being lit, Trump gave a short speech, possibly off the prompter, showed gratitude to the troops and especially the National Guard, naming Sarah Beckstrom, the officer who was killed in a targeted shooting.
NOW – Trump’s teleprompter breaks for his UN speech: “Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.” pic.twitter.com/IBToc0yfz6
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 23, 2025
And then Trump came through a significant mishap when he addressed the UN General Assembly, as the teleprompter failed to display his speech. Despite the scene, being filled with awkward silence, Trump handled it well and told the crowd, “I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working.” However, Trump didn’t get over that mishap easily, which was evident from his talk during a follow up press briefing, Trump referred to the moment, saying, “I’m looking at my teleprompter and the thing is dead… stone cold dead.”
Trump went on to talk about his improvised speech as well as he said, “But I made a speech. I actually got good marks. It was more a speech from my heart. I think it was maybe better in certain ways because it was from the heart.” Well, the teleprompter problem of the President might not be going well till now, but since multiple technical disruptions are taking place, things are expected to be handled more cautiously.
