Bucking tradition once again, President Trump on Wednesday announced his picks for Kennedy Center Honors and said he will host the ceremony himself — a first for any president. Actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, glam rock band Kiss, disco singer Gloria Gaynor, country music star George Strait and English actor and comedian Michael Crawford made the list.
The Kennedy Center Honors, which recognize lifetime achievement in the performing arts — given annually since 1978 — are the highlight of the center’s season each December. The award is considered a career milestone for the performers who receive it. Past honorees include Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown and Meryl Streep, among others.
“I want to congratulate all the nominees. They’re unbelievable people, and we’re going to have a tremendous day in December,” Trump said in a rambling news conference that began with him unveiling five velvet-draped portraits. He went on to mention his recent deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., his contention that the 2020 election was stolen, his disdain for Democrats and his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said he was “98% involved” in the selection of the honorees.
“I turned down plenty. This is very different than it used to be; these are great people,” Trump said, before adding that he didn’t want to politicize the awards.
The Academy Awards went “woke,” he said, causing the ceremony’s ratings to tank.
Some culture watchers might be surprised by Trump’s choices, particularly that of Kiss. Trump fired bassist Gene Simmons during the first season of “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Simmons went on to support Trump during his first term, but later spoke out sharply against him in an interview with Spin magazine.
Stallone, however, made sense. He’s one of the actors, alongside Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, that Trump named as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood. His goal: to bring the film business back to Hollywood, “which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries.”
Trump’s announcement, including his unusual decision to host, capped a tumultuous eight months at the Kennedy Center, beginning in early February when Trump sent the arts world reeling by revealing his intention to appoint himself chairman of the board and terminate members of the board of trustees “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Trump named a former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as interim executive director and the center began losing marquee names, including TV producer Shonda Rhimes, musician Ben Folds and opera star Renée Fleming.
Trump’s takeover of the center came after he actively shunned it during his first term. In 2017, he and First Lady Melania Trump skipped the Kennedy Center Honors after being criticized by honorees, marking only the fourth time in the organization’s history that a president was not in attendance.
During his first visit to the center as chairman in March, Trump said he didn’t like the musical “Hamilton,” adding that big Broadway shows were going to be the future of the center. He soon attended a performance of “Les Miserables,” famously declining to say whether he identified more with protagonist Jean Valjean or cruel police inspector Javert.
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