About Dan About Town
Party photographer Dan Swartz’s diary of bashes, benefits, and galas.
The 48th Kennedy Center Honors took over the Opera House of the Kennedy Center Sunday evening, with five honorees being recognized: Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone, disco icon Gloria Gaynor, country music artist George Strait, Tony Award-winning stage and screen star Michael Crawford, and the legendary rock band Kiss.
This year’s honorees had to share a bit of the spotlight with Donald Trump, after the President—who earlier this year fired most of the performing arts center’s board and named himself chairman—decided to emcee the event himself. “This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center—not even a contest,” Trump said, according to the Guardian. “There has never been anything like it and the show is already getting rave reviews.” As the Guardian pointed out, that last comment was made before the show was even over.
Trump also apparently had a hand in choosing this year’s honorees. (Crawford, for example, is known for his role as the lead in Phantom of the Opera, which the President has said is “great.” Songs from the musical have been heard playing on the sound system Trump installed for the White House’s “Rose Garden Club,” and he once tried to blame Joe Biden for the long-running show’s end on Broadway.)
In addition to repeatedly taking the stage to introduce and shepherd along the entertainment program, Trump also walked the red carpet inside the Kennedy Center’s Hall of Nations. Still, according to one attendee, the focus was largely on this year’s honorees, and except for the President’s remarks, politics was largely left out of the presentations. Trump himself had shunned attending the Kennedy Center Honors in prior years, but this year not only were he and First Lady Melanie Trump there, but so were a number of administration officials, including Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, and Mehmet Oz. The evening stands in contrast to other recent programming at the Kennedy Center, where ticket sales have tanked since Trump took over.
For nearly five decades, the Kennedy Center Honors celebration has recognized the accomplishments of some of the country’s most acclaimed artists. While the honorees themselves don’t perform during the event, a series of surprise guest performers are enlisted each year to pay tribute to the peers and heroes who oftentimes inspired them into becoming artists in the first place.
Garth Brooks and the band Cheap Trick, for example, honored Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Paul Stanley of Kiss, while actor Kelsey Grammer praised the legacy of Crawford and Elle King performed Gaynor’s smash disco hit, “I Will Survive.”
CBS will air the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, December 23, from 8 to 10:30 PM.
