4 minutes to read<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/header>\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as \u201cperhaps the most accomplished and renowned class\u201d ever assembled.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.<\/p>\n
Trump said they are a group of \u201cincredible people\u201d who represent the \u201cvery best in American arts and culture\u201d and that, \u201cI know most of them and I\u2019ve been a fan of all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,\u201d said a tuxedo-clad Trump. \u201cThis is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.<\/p>\n
Trump also has criticized the center\u2019s programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.<\/p>\n
The president placed around each honoree\u2019s neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center\u2019s image and rainbow colors. The honoree\u2019s name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree\u2019s shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honors program in 1978.<\/p>\n
Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, \u201cIf you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.\u201d But Strait took it off.<\/p>\n
The president said Crawford was a \u201cgreat star of Broadway\u201d for his lead role in the long-running \u201cPhantom of the Opera.\u201d Of Gaynor, he said, \u201cWe have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.\u201d<\/p>\nPresident Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTrump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a \u201cwonderful\u201d and \u201cspectacular\u201d person and \u201cone of the true, great movie stars\u201d and \u201cone of the great legends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiss is an \u201cincredible rock band,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.<\/p>\n
The president said in August that he was \u201cabout 98% involved\u201d in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.<\/p>\n
It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we\u2019ve seen,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom \u2014 and that was a phantom, let me tell you \u2014 or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that\u2019s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump also attended an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved that to the White House.<\/p>\n
Trump said during pre-dinner remarks that the honorees are more than celebrities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives me tremendous pleasure to congratulate them once again and say thank you for your incredible career,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you for gracing us with this wisdom and just genius that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump.<\/p>\n
The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show. At dinner Saturday, he said he was doing so \u201cat the request of a certain television network.\u201d Trump predicted that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. No president has ever been the host.<\/p>\n
At the White House, Trump said he looked forward to Sunday\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be something that I believe, and I\u2019m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they\u2019ve ever done and they\u2019ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there\u2019s nothing like what\u2019s going to happen tomorrow night,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
The president also swiped at late-night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC following criticism of his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.<\/p>\n
Kimmel and Trump are sharp critics of each other, with the president regularly deriding Kimmel\u2019s talent as a host. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Academy Awards multiple times.<\/p>\n
Trump said he should be able to outdo Kimmel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIf I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don\u2019t think I should be president.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n