President Trump has broken from tradition to announce this year’s Kennedy Center honorees personally during a press conference rather than revealing the recipients via press release. It’s all part of the president’s goal of being more involved with the Center, which he installed himself as chairman of after taking office.
This year’s celebrity honorees include country singer George Strait, legendary actor Sylvester Stallone, the rock band KISS, “Phantom of the Opera” actor Michael Crawford, and singer Gloria Gaynor.
“The 48th Kennedy Center Honorees are outstanding people, incredible, we can’t wait … in a few short months since I became chairman of the board, the Kennedy Center, we’ve completely reversed the decline of this cherished national institution,” Trump said during his speech on Wednesday.
When asked if he participated in the selection process, Trump said he was “about 98% involved” and that “they all came through me.”
The president flat out said he turned down certain suggestions for being too “woke.”
“I turned down plenty, they were too woke. … I had a couple of wokesters. No, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be,” Trump added. He went on to mention other Hollywood awards shows, which seemingly take an opposite approach.
“Look at the Academy Awards — it gets lousy ratings now, it’s all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump, but nobody likes that. They don’t watch anymore,” Trump said.
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Trump made headlines earlier this year when he promised to reform the Kennedy Center, which began when he replaced its board and was elected chairman. Trump also tapped Special Envoy Richard Grenell to serve as the Center’s president.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on December 7.