Donald Trump Names KISS, George Strait, & Gloria Gaynor First Post-“Woke” Kennedy Center Honorees

Earlier this year, Donald Trump appointed himself head of the Kennedy Center, the Washington, DC institution that hands out the Kennedy Center Honors every year. As a result, Ben Folds stepped down from his position as the National Symphony Orchestra's artistic advisor, and a number of artists canceled their planned Kennedy Center performances. This afternoon, Donald Trump announced the recipients of his new administration's first Kennedy Center Honors. He also said that he plans to host the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony himself, and he also joked that he'll give himself the Honors next year.

This year's Kennedy Center Honorees include glam-rock battleship KISS, country giant George Strait, disco hitmaker Gloria Gaynor, Hollywood survivor Sylvester Stallone, and the original star of Phantom Of The Opera (Trump’s favorite musical) Michael Crawford. All of Trump's picks are decidedly low-culture, but they have all had an inarguable impact on their fields. (For comparison's sake, Joe Biden's final Kennedy Center Honors went to the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, Francis Ford Coppola, and the Apollo Theater.)

More striking is the strange, brash way that Trump announced the Honorees at a press conference held at the Center today, as well as the whole idea that he'll serve as the evening's host. When he talked about giving himself Kennedy Center Honors, it sounded like he was joking, but jokes have a way of becoming reality in his administration. In his address today, Trump said:

I've been asked to host. I said, "I'm the president of the United States! Are you fools, asking me to do that?" "Sir, you'll get much higher ratings!" I said, "I don't care, I'm president of the United States. I won't do it." They said, "Please!" And then [chief of staff] Susie Wiles said to me, "Sir, [incomprehensible growling]." I said, "OK, Susie, I'll do it." That's the power she's got. So I have agreed to host. Do you believe what I have to do? And I didn't want to do it, OK? They're going to say, "He insisted." I did not insist. But I think it will be quite successful, actually. It's been a long time. I used to host the Apprentice finales, and we did rather well with that, so I think we're going to do very well 'cause we have some great Honorees, some really great ones.

Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been among the most prestigious awards in the performing arts. I wanted one. I was never able to get one. It's true, actually. I would've taken it if they would've called me. I waited and waited and waited, and I said, "The hell with it! I'll become chairman, and I'll give myself an Honor. Maybe next year, we'll honor Trump, OK?

"We ended the woke political programming, and we’re restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world," Trump added. The President said that in choosing this year's honorees he rejected candidates he considered “too woke."

It’s worth noting KISS have been critical of Trump in the past. Though Gene Simmons praised Trump's political acumen when he first ran for president, he disputed Trump's claims of election fraud when Joe Biden won in 2020: "60 courts in various states and 60 Judges (including Pres Trump appointed Judges) UNANIMOUSLY, and without exception, dismissed ALL allegations of a rigged election..and that Includes Trump appointed US Attorney General Bill Barr!!!"

Ahead of the election, Simmons' bandmate Paul Stanley tweeted, "REGARDLESS of who you support, it is incendiary & abhorrent for ANY candidate to say ‘If I lose, the election is rigged.' It’s an insult to those who have fought for the free, safe elections we have and dangerously implies that citizens who don’t share your views are the enemy." Stanley also tweeted a strong condemnation of Trump's efforts to find more votes to overturn the 2020 results in Georgia: "This is ABHORRENT. A true danger to our democracy. The issue isn’t that it WON’T work. It’s Mob Boss behavior and politicians putting party over audits, investigations, court rulings & COUNTRY in an effort to overrule the will of American voters." As for the Jan. 6 rioters, Stanley said, "These are TERRORISTS. This is armed insurrection. The flames were fanned today & over time by the president & specific senators who CANNOT be allowed now to distance from or denounce what they have directly caused. Know their names. THIS is the result of their deception. Shame."

In a 2021 talk with Yahoo, Simmons expressed his support of COVID-19 vaccines and said wearing masks to protect against the spread of the disease should be the law. He also said this about Trump's propensity for lying: "The gentleman who was in office, the former president, I knew before the political world. It’s the same person I knew before; the stripes of a tiger don’t change. And the unfortunate thing is that, look, we all lie to some extent, but what happened in the last four years was just beyond anything I ever thought imaginable for people who have lots of power — not just him, but the administration, everybody…. all these QAnon people."

Talking to SPIN in 2022, Simmons lamented Trump's contribution to the mainstreaming of unapologetic racism:

Look what that gentleman [Trump] did to this country and the polarization — got all the cockroaches to rise to the top. Once upon a time, you were embarrassed to be publicly racist and out there with conspiracy theories. Now it’s all out in the open because he allowed it… I don’t think he’s a Republican or a Democrat. He’s out for himself, any way you can get there. And in the last election, over 70 million people bought it hook, line and sinker.

That same year, Simmons told Bill Maher that Trump does not understand how the US government functions. None of those criticisms came up today, though. Instead, Simmons told TMZ, "KISS is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honor." Stanley added, "From our earliest days, KISS has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off. The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of KISS and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band."

Gaynor meanwhile joined POTUS and the White House in a collaborative Instagram post, so it looks like she will be attending. The Washington Post reports that Tom Cruise was also offered Kennedy Center Honors this year, but passed due to "scheduling conflicts."