Trump takes a starring role at the Kennedy Center Honors

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump took the stage at the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday night, making himself the face of an arts event he once shunned as he paid tribute to actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor and other artists.

While presidents typically attend the event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump is the first to host it, putting his administration’s cultural takeover of Washington and its institutions on vivid display.

Standing behind a lectern adorned with the presidential seal, Trump told the audience that as host he would “try to act like Johnny Carson,” before praising the assembled group of honorees, including singer George Strait, the band Kiss and actor Michael Crawford.

“These are incredible people – among the greatest artists and actors, performers, musicians, singers and songwriters ever to walk the face of the Earth,” Trump said, noting that “billions and billions of people have watched them over the years.”

His choices embodied the pop culture of the 1980s: the glam rock band known for their painted faces and pyrotechnic spectacle; the diva behind the disco anthem “I Will Survive”; the action megastar who portrayed Rocky and Rambo; the country hitmaker with a signature cowboy flair; and the original Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Trump boycotted the honors in his first term amid pushback from several artists who were being honored. But since he regained office, he has ensured a friendlier reception at the prestigious arts venue.

He purged Democrats from the institution’s traditionally bipartisan board of directors, installed himself as chair and replaced the center’s longtime president with a loyalist. He personally approved the honorees of what is the venue’s marquee event, saying in August that he had rejected some candidates whom he characterized as “wokesters.”

The program, which is being taped for broadcast on CBS on Dec. 23, has historically been a tightly scripted affair that embraces a spirit of setting aside politics to celebrate the arts. Trump’s predecessors in hosting the event include Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, Glenn Close and Queen Latifah.

On Sunday night, Trump did not steer clear of politics – he praised his signature policy bill that he signed into law in July – and he did not appear to stay on script.

“If there is one thread that connects all of these amazing artists together, it is the word ‘persistence,’” Trump said in his opening remarks. “I can say that with a lot of the members of our audience – I know so many of you, and you are persistent. Many of you are miserable, horrible people. But you are persistent, you never give up. Sometimes I wish you’d give up, but you don’t.”

In August, when Trump announced his intention to host the show, he said he had been asked to take on the job because he would get “much higher ratings.”

Before taking the stage Sunday, Trump spent more than 20 minutes on the red carpet, which was laid out in the center’s Hall of Nations, posing for photos with Melania Trump, the first lady, and answering questions from reporters assembled behind a rope line.

“I didn’t really prepare very much,” Trump said of the hosting job. “I read a little bit. I have a good memory.”

When he was not onstage, Trump sat in the presidential box between his wife and Stallone, who called the president “the second George Washington” shortly after Trump’s election in November 2024.

Assembled in the audience were members of Trump’s Cabinet, Kennedy Center donors and board members, corporate executives, Washington aides and a number of celebrities, including Fox News host Bret Baier and Mehmet Oz, a former TV doctor who is now administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

This year’s honors, the 48th staging of the annual event, are the first to be held during a period of major upheaval at the Kennedy Center. Dozens of staff members have been fired or have quit since the Trump administration took over the center. Its president, Richard Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany in Trump’s first term, has vowed to rid the institution of “woke propaganda.” Trump has taken a special interest in renovating the building, securing $257 million for repairs in a government spending bill.

One of the most visible changes is the redesign of the Kennedy Center Honors medallion. The center ditched the traditional rainbow ribbon design that debuted at the first ceremony in 1978, which honored Fred Astaire, George Balanchine and others. The new medallion, designed by Tiffany & Co., has a navy blue ribbon.

The honorees arrived in Washington to a typical weekend of fanfare – though with an enhanced role for the president, who delivered remarks at the traditional State Department dinner after the Oval Office event.

In a speech that touched on immigration enforcement, Christmas decorations at the White House and the Kennedy Center’s marble (“big beautiful slabs – you don’t get ’em like that anymore”), Trump praised the talents of the honorees.

“It’s a cultural heritage that you’ve created – each of you in a very different way, most of you in a very different form, catering to different people, frankly, but you add it up and it’s 100% of our population,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.