President Donald Trump unveiled the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees on August 13, using his first selections as the institution’s chairman to imprint a distinctly personal vision on one of the nation’s highest arts recognitions. The lineup—Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, and Sylvester Stallone—draws from the bombastic and larger-than-life pop culture of the 1970s and 1980s, an era Trump often celebrates.
In a striking break from tradition, Trump announced that he will personally host the December gala, making him the first president to do so, reported Time Magazine.
“I shouldn’t make this political because they made the Academy Awards political and they went down the tubes. So 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,” Trump said.
It is the latest step in a rapid transformation of the Kennedy Center since his February takeover, when he replaced its board with loyalists and assumed the chairmanship. The move has already fueled protests, resignations, and accusations that he is politicizing a ceremony once known for bipartisan detachment.
Trump’s roster blends chart-topping music legends with showbiz spectacle. Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” remains a disco anthem; Strait’s decades-long reign as the “King of Country” is unmatched in record sales; KISS brings pyrotechnics and face paint to the stage; Crawford’s career-defining turn in The Phantom of the Opera embodies theatrical grandeur; and Stallone, a Trump ally, offers Hollywood grit forged in Rocky and Rambo. For Trump, the selection doubles as a cultural statement—rejecting what he derides as “woke” artistry in favor of familiar icons with broad, if nostalgic, appeal.
Under the new president, Richard Grenell, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been thrust into political and financial turmoil after he announced he uncovered $26 million in “phantom revenue” during an internal budget review. The finding, part of a Trump-led overhaul that ousted the Center’s longtime leadership and replaced its bipartisan board, has prompted Grenell to call for a federal investigation into what he describes as criminal mismanagement. Former executives strongly dispute his assessment, insisting past finances were independently audited and sound.
The leadership shake-up has also reshaped programming—mixing Broadway blockbusters with controversial nonunion productions—while drawing criticism from arts advocates over labor standards and the institution’s direction. President Trump has requested $257 million from Congress for long-deferred repairs and will attend a gala performance in June.
The decision to step into the spotlight at the televised gala reflects his instinct to merge politics, entertainment, and personal brand. Trump has framed the Kennedy Center as an underperforming institution in need of his signature overhaul, pledging to restore its “prestige and grandeur” with renovations and embellishments timed to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
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