Donald Trump installed himself as Chairman of the Kennedy Center at the beginning of 2025, claiming that the national arts institution had become “too woke.” Many who worked there either quit or were fired. In a press conference today, Trump announced that he would be hosting the next Kennedy Center Honors awards gala and announced the 2025 crop of recipients — given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime achievement to American culture — which he says he was “98% involved” in choosing.
This year’s honorees: theatrical hard rock icons KISS, Rocky/Rambo star Sylvester Stallone, “I Will Survive” singer Gloria Gaynor, opera star Michael Crawford, and country vet George Strait. In the announcement, Trump said he had rejected prospective honorees he deemed “wokesters.”
“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 said. “We have some unbelievable plans.”
Trump also said, “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?”
The 2024 Kennedy Center Honors, the first he had attended as president (he didn’t attend during his first term), inducted Francis Ford Coppola, Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, and the Apollo Theater.