Washington – President Trump announced this year's list of Kennedy Center honorees during a visit to the Kennedy Center on August 13, after his administration steps for overhaul DC cultural institution in recent months. Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony airs on CBS and Paramount+ December 23.
“This is a very interesting project,” Mr. Trump said. “We're going to do something that's going to happen quickly, relatively inexpensively, and we're going to do it better than ever.”
The president said he was “delighted to be here as we formally announce the incredible, talented artists who will be honored later this year at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors.” He added that he was asked to host the 48th annual awards ceremony this year: “I agreed to host – do you believe in what I have to do?”
The president then announced the honorees, saying that this year's board had selected “a truly exceptional class.”
2025 Kennedy Center Honorees
George Strait
Erica Goldring/Getty Images for “Spilling to the Heart”
Country music star George Strait, known as the “King of Country Music,” has been performing for over 30 years. He has 60 No. 1 country singles, more than any other artist in any genre, and has sold 120 million records and released 33 platinum albums, more than any other artist. “He is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” the president said of Straight.
Michael Crawford
AP Photo 
Actor and singer Michael Crawford was the first “Phantom of the Opera” to win a Tony Award when the show opened on Broadway in 1988. “I think he's one of the greatest talents I've ever seen,” Mr. Trump said.
Sylvester Stallone
James Devaney/GC Images 
Actor, director and bodybuilder Sylvester Stallone's Hollywood career spans more than five decades – he is best known for playing boxer Rocky Balboa in the blockbuster film Rocky and its five sequels, which he wrote and starred in. He also played John Rambo, a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder, in five films. Mr. Trump called him “my friend” and “a true talent who has never been given his due.”
Gloria Gaynor
Heidi Gutman / American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. via Getty Images 
Disco star Gloria Gaynor is best known for her anthem “I Will Survive,” a song Trump said he's heard “thousands of times.” “It’s one of those few songs that gets better every time you hear it,” he said.
KISS
Sven Hoppe/Photo Alliance via Getty Images 
The rock band KISS was founded in 1973 in New York by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. With their face paint and elaborate performances featuring pyrotechnics and fire breathing, they became a pop culture phenomenon of the 1970s. The president called the group “one of the greatest rock bands of all time” and noted that they have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.
“The 48th Kennedy Center honorees are extraordinary people, an extraordinary group, incredible,” Mr. Trump said. “We can’t wait to celebrate the Kennedy Center Honors.”
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images 
The Kennedy Center announced the announcement Tuesday, writing in mail on X: “A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York rock band, a dance queen and a multibillion-dollar actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House…”
The televised Kennedy Center Gala is held annually in December. The Kennedy Center Honors are hosted and produced by CBS and broadcast on the network.
Last year's laureates included singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt, director Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, composer Arturo Sandoval and the Apollo Theater.
The Age of Trump at the Kennedy Center
In recent months, the president and his allies have expanded their influence over the Kennedy Center. After the White House blamed the institution In a “woke” move that scrutinized his finances earlier this year, Mr. Trump removed Kennedy Center board members appointed by former President Joe Biden, replacing them with his allies. Soon after, the new board replaced the center's chairman, David Rubinstein, with Mr. Trump, and Richard Grenell became interim president of the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center was designated by Congress as a living monument to President John F. Kennedy in 1964.
Along with efforts to change the center's governing body and vision, the president said during a visit to the famed opera house in March that “we're going to make a lot of changes—including the seating, the decor—pretty much everything. It takes a lot of work.” In July, House Republicans advanced a measure that would rename the Kennedy Center Opera House in honor of first lady Melania Trump.
The president said Wednesday that in the months since he became chairman, “we have completely reversed the decline of this treasured national institution,” saying “it has fallen into disrepair” and “money has not been spent properly.”
“With a little fixing and work, we can make this incredible,” the president said of the space. “The bones are so good.”
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said work is underway to return the Kennedy Center “to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamor and entertainment.”
The president, who broke with tradition during his first term by skipping the awards after several award recipients criticized him, touted “Great Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, oops, I mean KENNEDY CENTER AWARDS.”
The president also mentioned another project on Wednesday: the White House. repair — and his efforts to “fix” Washington, D.C. including the deployment of federal law enforcement and the National Guard to the District of Columbia this week to fight crime.
“I am committed to making Washington safe, clean and beautiful again,” he said.
