OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:36 PM – Sunday, December 7, 2025
President Donald Trump presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with medals in the Oval Office on Saturday, which included a star-studded cast of the “very best in American arts and culture.”
On Saturday, President Trump handed out medals to actor Sylvester Stallone, singers George Strait and Gloria Gaynor, and Kiss singer Michael Crawford.
“This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted, and unified millions and millions of Americans,” Trump stated at the Oval Office ceremony.
“These are among the greatest artists, actors, and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” he continued. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.”
“Each 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.”
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The Kennedy Honorees were previously chosen by a bipartisan committee comprised of the Board of Trustees, external arts advisors, as well as the Center’s president and Honors team.
However, President Trump played a major role in this year’s selection process after becoming the chairman of the Kennedy Center board, revealing that he ultimately made the final decision on the honorees.
“I turned down plenty, they were too woke,” Trump stated. “I had a couple of wokesters. No, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be.”
Aside from the Oval Office ceremony, the president is also set to host the Sunday Kennedy Center Honors gala.
“I’m sure they’ll give me great reviews, right? You know? They’ll say, ‘He was horrible, he was terrible. It was a horrible situation,” Trump stated on Saturday. “No, I think we’ll do fine. I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible. Some of these people, if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”
“I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done, and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen,” the president continued.
The president previously stated that he was asked to host the event, to which he was initially hesitant before ultimately agreeing after being asked by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
“I’ve been asked to host. I said, I’m the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that? ‘Sir, you’ll get much higher ratings.’ I said ‘I don’t care. I’m president of the United States, I won’t do it.’ They said, ‘please,’” Trump stated in August.
“I said, ‘OK, Susie, I’ll do it.’ That’s the power she’s got,” he continued. “So I have agreed to host. Do you believe what I have to do? And I didn’t want to do it, OK? They’re going to say, ‘He insisted.’ I did not insist, but I think it will be quite successful, actually.”
“It’s been a long time. I used to host ‘The Apprentice’ finales, and we did rather well with that,” President Trump added.
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