U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday named “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone and nation music nice George Strait among the many recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, as he pursues a controversial overhaul of the storied arts venue.
Since returning to workplace in January, the Republican chief has declared struggle on what he calls “woke” viewpoints espoused within the nation’s cultural establishments, together with a contemporary probe of content material at a number of Smithsonian museums.
The Kennedy Center, a dwelling monument to the late John F Kennedy that opened in 1971, has lengthy loved bipartisan assist however has been within the president’s crosshairs, and he appointed himself board chairman in February.
“We have completely reversed the decline of this cherished national institution,” Trump instructed reporters on the stately white marble complicated overlooking the Potomac River. “We ended the woke political programming.”
Also receiving the Kennedy Center Honors, one of many nation’s highest arts awards for lifetime achievement, shall be disco diva Gloria Gaynor, rock band KISS and British actor Michael Crawford, identified for Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
Trump introduced he himself would host the awards gala, which often takes place in early December and is later broadcast on CBS.
“I did not insist, but I think it will be quite successful,” he mentioned.
He additionally joked that he wished an honor himself however was “never able to get one.”
Stallone, who at 79 is identical age as Trump, is a three-time Oscar nominee: for finest actor and screenplay for the 1976 basic boxing flick “Rocky,” and for finest supporting actor, once more within the Rocky Balboa function, within the 2015 follow-up “Creed.”
Trump referred to as Stallone a “great actor.”
He can also be a serious Trump supporter and one of many president’s “Hollywood ambassadors” together with Jon Voight and Mel Gibson.
In November 2024, at a post-election occasion at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida, Stallone referred to as him “the second George Washington.”
Strait, 73, is without doubt one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with greater than 120 million information offered. He is thought for enormous hits like “All My Exes Live in Texas” and “Amarillo by Morning.”
“He’s a good looking guy. Hope he still looks like that,” Trump quipped.
Gaynor, 81, is the singer behind the monster disco anthem “I Will Survive.”
KISS, shaped within the Nineteen Seventies in Trump’s hometown New York City, gained fame with its shock rock performances and outlandish black and white face paint.
“They work hard, and they’re still working hard,” the U.S. president mentioned.
Crawford, 83, made his mark on British tv within the Nineteen Seventies earlier than attaining worldwide success by originating the title function in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Phantom of the Opera,” thrilling audiences together with his highly effective tenor voice.
“I think he’s one of the greatest talents I’ve ever actually seen,” Trump mentioned Wednesday.
In his first time period, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican president skipped the Kennedy Center Honors gala as a result of among the artists receiving awards criticized him or mentioned they might not attend in his presence.
The Kennedy Center is dwelling to the National Symphony Orchestra and in addition affords theater, opera, comedy and different productions.
Many artists related to the middle, together with opera singer Renee Fleming and musician Ben Folds, have reduce ties with the establishment since Trump took the reins. Others together with comic Issa Rae canceled performances.
The producers of smash hit historic musical “Hamilton” opted to cancel a scheduled 2026 run, citing the top of “neutrality” on the middle.
“We’re restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world,” Trump mentioned.
“It was being run down, money wasn’t being spent properly. They were building things they shouldn’t have built that nobody wanted instead of taking care of the great gem that it is.”
The Smithsonian Institution, which runs an unlimited community of museums, mentioned it was reviewing a White House letter asserting a probe of content material geared toward eradicating “divisive or partisan narratives.”
Among the museums focused are the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian, the letter mentioned.
© 2025 AFP