The honors of Trump Kennedy Center are definitely different: Kiss, Sylvester Stallone and Gloria Gaynor make the cup

Instead of Kennedy Center revealing the names through a press release as usual, Trump announced the winners himself at a press conference on Wednesday on the site, where he was flanked by American flags and photos for each of the artists who were initially covered by red curtains. Unlike his first mandate, when he did not even attend the honors ceremony, he announced that he would host him later this year and that he had been deeply involved in the selection process. He also suggested that he could choose himself for a future price.

The show marked a new era for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which Trump resumed by settling as president and replacing the board of directors with loyalists. He even hinted that he would like to see the renowned place the Trump / Kennedy Center.

Trump has reorganized the Kennedy Center – and what he calls his “awake” program – the center of permanent pressure to revise cultural institutions such as the National Endowment of Human Sciences and Museums of Smithsonian.

A bipartite story

The honors of Kennedy Center were created in 1978 and were given to a wide range of artists. Until Trump’s first term, the presidents of the two main political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they were politically disagreement with a given beneficiary.

Eminent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honored during the administration of the Republican George W. Bush, and a main curator, Charlton Heston, was celebrated during the administration of the Democrat Bill Clinton.

At least some of the winners this year have a story to support Trump. Stallone is an eminent supporter who called Trump “the second George Washington” and was appointed by the president, with Jon Voight and Mel Gibson, as a Hollywood special ambassador. The founding member of Kiss, Ace Frehley, approved Trump in 2020, calling him “the strongest leader we have”. Meanwhile, the musician of Kiss Paul Stanley has often criticized the Republican president, including his resistance to the acceptance of his electoral loss to the Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

“After many audits, demystified the allegations of falsification of endemic voters, the voting of the dead and the countless cases rejected by the judges appointed by Trump and others … When the expected result is accepted ?? Biden Won,” tweeted Stanley at the time.

All candidates have had substantial, even emblematic careers. The representations of Stallone of the Boxer of the Rocky Balboa oppressed and the veteran of Vietnam John J. Rambo are devices in popular culture. The dozens of Strait’s successes, including “Check Yes Gold” and “I Cross My Heart”, led his nickname the king of country music. Few groups have sold more records or have their makeup face more famous than Kiss, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members. Crawford is a famous stage actor who won a Tony for his main role in “The Phantom of the Opera”, and Gaynor is a leading star of the 1970s era of which “I Will Survive” is a feminist anthem.

Breaking with the longtime tradition, none of the winners were areas of dance or classical musical.

This year’s Kennedy Center specialization ceremony will take place on December 7 and will be broadcast on CBS and Stream on Paramount +.

A personal approach

Historically, a bipartite advisory committee selects the beneficiaries, who over the years have varied from George Balanochine and Tom Hanks in Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. Trump said on Wednesday that he was “around 98% involved” in the choice of winners and had given Kennedy Center managed on the shutter like Ric Grenell and Sergio Gor. He said he “refused a lot” of names, saying that these individuals were “too awake” or too liberal. He described the artists he announced Wednesday as “great people”.

In addition to appointing the president and removing the Board of Directors, Trump said that he would make the decisions concerning programming at the center and promised to end the events showing trail artists.

The stages have aroused new criticism from certain artists. In March, the producers of “Hamilton” withdrew from the staging of the Broadway musical in 2026, citing the aggressive takeover by Trump of the management of the institution.

The House Republicans added an amendment to an expense bill that Trump signed in July to rename the Kennedy Center opera after the First Lady Melania Trump, but this place has not yet been renamed. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President Kennedy, a Democrat, criticized as “crazy” a separate house proposal to rename the whole center after Trump.

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Italy reported in New York. The writer Associated Press Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.