US President Donald Trump has announced the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, a prestigious award recognizing lifetime contributions to the arts. The honorees include disco singer Gloria Gaynor, country music musician George Strait, rock band Kiss, British performer Michael Crawford, and actor Sylvester Stallone.
Trump appeared on stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, marking his latest foray into the arts. “We’ll make it better than it ever was, frankly,” he said. “It’ll be something that people are going to be very proud of.” Trump also revealed that he would host the award show himself, joking that his allies had strong-armed him into taking the gig. “I’ve been asked to host. I said, ‘I’m the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that?’ So I have agreed to host. Do you believe what I have to do?”
The ceremony’s announcement comes as Trump seeks to reshape the US’s cultural institutions. In February, he purged the Kennedy Center’s governing board and declared his intention to lead the institution as its chair. “I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s vision for the Kennedy Center Honors appears to prioritize luxury and entertainment. “The absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment” will be reflected in the revamped award show, he pledged. However, his plans have been met with criticism, with some performers boycotting shows in protest.
The Kennedy Center Honors is expected to air on CBS in December. Trump’s announcement tied the ceremony to his broader campaign to crack down on crime in Washington, DC. “In the coming months, we’ll fully renovate the dated and, really, the entire infrastructure of the building and make the Kennedy Center a crown jewel of American arts and culture once again,” he said. “We have the right location, and soon we will be a crime-free area.”
Trump’s claims about crime in Washington, DC, have been disputed. Despite the city recording a 30-year low in violent crime, Trump has denied the legitimacy of these statistics. “You’re gonna see a big change in Washington crime stats very soon — not the stats that they gave because they turned out to be a total fraud. The real stats,” he said.
The Republican leader also hinted at a potential political bent to the reimagined Kennedy Center Honors. “They’ll say, ‘Trump made it political,’ but I think, if we make it our kind of political, we’ll go up, OK? Let’s see if I’m right about that.” This approach has raised concerns about the politicization of the arts.