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Donald Trump added another job title – awards host – to his presidential portfolio on Sunday when he took charge of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, claiming his show was getting “rave reviews” even before it ended.
The US president stayed away from the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during his first term. But since returning to office in January, he has made the complex a lightning rod in a broader attack against what he has labelled “woke” anti-American culture.
“This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center – not even a contest,” Trump said with evident relish from a presidential lectern at centre stage. “There has never been anything like it and the show is already getting rave reviews.
“Now, I will say that I guarantee the fake news is going to give me horrible – ‘He was horrible as an emcee. Don’t ever let that happen again!’ But I guarantee one thing: we’re going get big ratings today. This place is hot.”
The president referred jokingly to a renamed “Trump-Kennedy Center”, earning laughter and applause, before adding: “Well, we’re really having a good time tonight. So many people I know in this audience. Some good. Some bad. Some I truly love and respect. Some I just hate.”
The Honors are the country’s highest recognition for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. Trump’s determination to insert himself into Sunday’s ceremony underlined his unprecedented effort over the past 10 months to dominate America’s cultural space.
Having seized control of the Kennedy Center in February, Trump became the first president in the 47-year history of its prestigious honours ceremony to serve as host, following in the footsteps of Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, Glenn Close and Queen Latifah.
His duties involved a 20-minute walk down the red carpet with his wife, Melania Trump, as he fielded questions from reporters, then three speeches from the opera house stage, plus a series of pre-recorded videos from the Oval Office to introduce each of the honourees that were played on a big screen.
Trump, a former host of the reality TV show The Apprentice, said he was deeply involved in choosing the recipients and about 50 names were whittled down to five.
The show reflected his nostalgia for late 20th-century culture with a heavy focus on the actor Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky (1976), Michael Crawford’s performance in The Phantom of the Opera (1986), George Strait’s emergence as a country star in the 1980s, disco singer Gloria Gaynor’s hit single I Will Survive (1978) and rock band Kiss’s live album Alive! (1975), which featured the hit Rock and Roll All Nite.
The night started with Trump entering to the Rocky theme music and cheers, applause and cries of “We love you!” from an audience conspicuously less racially diverse than in recent years.
Trump said the honourees shared the quality of persistence. “Some of them have had legendary setbacks; setbacks that you have to read in the papers because of their level of fame. But in the words of Rocky Balboa, they showed us that you keep moving forward, just keep moving forward.”
He said many of the politicians, celebrities and others in the audience share the trait too. “I know so many of you, and you are persistent. Many of you are miserable, horrible people. But you are persistent, you never give up. Sometimes I wish you’d give up, but you don’t.”
Then came a tribute to Stallone from actor Kurt Russell and others. Next up was a tribute to British stage actor Crawford, who originated the lead role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera. A rendition of that show’s title song and ballad The Music of the Night were performed as a tribute.
The singers Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert and the country duo Brooks & Dunn sang selections in Strait’s honour, and Gaynor was celebrated with a version of her signature song, complete with disco lights around the theatre.
The final tribute went to Kiss, whose members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss rose to fame with hits such as I Was Made for Lovin’ You. Frehley died in October. The singer Garth Brooks performed a rousing rendition of Shout it Out Loud and the rock band Cheap Trick closed the evening with a rendition of Rock and Roll All Nite.
The audience included the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, the head of Medicare and Medicaid, Mehmet Oz, the US Agency for Global Media leader, Kari Lake, and the Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin. Democrats were far more scarce than usual.
Trump proved more disciplined in his remarks than at some other high-profile events but could not resist partisan point-scoring. “You know, they tried to get [Joe] Biden to do this,” he riffed. “Four years in a row, they tried getting him. He said: ‘I don’t think so.’ It would have been very interesting, though, wouldn’t it? I would have watched.” The audience roared with laughter.
Trump’s impact on the Kennedy Center has been dramatic. He fired its president, installed a new board that made him chair and ordered a renovation of the building.
The Center’s new president, Ric Grenell, who once served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, is overseeing the performing arts complex’s multimillion-dollar renovation and revamping the organisation’s events, including hosting the football World Cup draw last Friday.
Grenell’s tenure has been marked by staff turnover and discontent in the arts community about the centre’s direction, leading to reports of a decline in ticket sales.
For the past decade, the Kennedy Center Honors red carpet has been dominated by criticism of Trump in his absence. But on Sunday the honourees were careful to avoid taking sides.
Crawford, 83, said: “I’m nonpolitical. I’ve just been invited to be here and I’m here … We work for an audience. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know what colour they are, how tall they are, how short they are, what they believe in or what they don’t. They’re in the dark and we entertain you.”
Stanley of Kiss said: “Overpoliticising a celebration of the arts is a distortion of the intent and, over the years, certainly the nominees and people who have won the awards in the past weren’t asked who they voted for or what their political beliefs were. At some point, it’s important for people to open their minds and shut their mouths.”
The Kiss singer Simmons, wearing boots made of python skin, added: “Whether you’re a fan of the president or not, he’s never boring. The worst thing is to have some bloated person get up there and make long speeches. No matter what he does, this president’s going to be entertaining.”
Trump, for his part, was asked how he had prepared for his Kennedy Center Honors hosting debut. “I have a lot on my plate and I didn’t really prepare very much,” he admitted. “I read a little bit. I have a good memory so I can remember things, which was very fortunate. But I wanted to just be myself. You have to be yourself. Johnny Carson – he was himself.”
The Kennedy Center Honors show will air on the CBS television network on 23 December
