Trump will host Kennedy Center Honors in presidential first. Here’s who’s on the honorees list
Ten years after his career as a television star ended when he launched his first campaign for the White House, President Donald Trump is returning to his TV roots as host of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors award ceremony this December.
The president, who appointed himself head of the Kennedy Center shortly after taking office, made the announcement at a press conference to unveil this year’s slate of honorees.
He insisted the Kennedy Center board had requested that he serve as the emcee of this year’s show, stepping into shoes once filled by the late CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite from 1981 to 2002, then by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy — the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, for whom the arts center is named — from 2003 to 2012.
More recently, the award ceremony was hosted by Glenn Close, Stephen Colbert, Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J and David Letterman.
“I think we’re going to do very well, because we have some great honorees, some really great ones,” he said.
Trump, maybe in jest, claimed he’d always wanted to be among those honored for lifelong contributions to American arts and culture but was “never able to get one.”
He initially claimed the center’s board had selected “a truly exceptional class of honorees.” But under questioning from reporters he admitted that he had signed off on the list and rejected multiple picks for honorees because they’d been “too woke.”
“I would say I was about 98 percent involved … they all went through me,” he said. “I turned down plenty who were too woke.”
He added that the annual event’s roster is “very different than it used to be” and is packed with “great people.”
Here’s who’s on the list:
The first nominee announced by Trump is country music artist George Strait.
The award-winning singer, songwriter and actor is one of the best-selling artists of all time, with 33 different albums certified as gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The RIAA also ranks him as the 12th best-selling recording artist in the United States with over 70 million records sold.
Called the “King of Country Music” by some critics and writers, Trump remarked that Strait was a “good-looking guy” as his photograph was unveiled.
