{"id":64094,"date":"2025-12-08T11:51:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/64094\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T11:51:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:51:15","slug":"trump-takes-over-washingtons-most-glam-night-hosts-kennedy-center-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/64094\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump takes over Washington’s most glam night, hosts Kennedy Center Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A tuxedo-wearing President Trump<\/a> hosted Sunday evening\u2019s feted\u00a048th\u00a0Kennedy Center Honors ceremony<\/a> \u2014 marking the first time a sitting president has led one of the glitziest nights of the year in DC.<\/p>\n

Trump, 79, who once dreamed of being a theater producer, honored the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Kiss, and Gloria Gaynor at the star-studded event, capping off a year of big changes at the\u00a0John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is hot,\u201d the president\/emcee told the audience from the stage after touring renovations he ordered at the renowned center. \u201cThe Trump-Kennedy Center,\u201d he told the crowd before pausing for some laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the Kennedy Center. I\u2019m sorry. This is terribly embarrassing,\u201d Trump joked. <\/p>\n

President Trump is the first commander-in-chief to host the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ahead of the event, the commander in chief and First Lady Melania Trump walked onto the red carpet and stopped for roughly 20 minutes to take questions from reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hosted the Apprentice when it was Number One and had an audience of 42.5 million,\u201d Trump said when asked about the ratings he expected for the night. \u201cThey\u2019ll be good. It will do very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president also admitted that he hadn\u2019t prepared much to host the star-studded ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t prepare a lot. I have a good memory.\u201d He added, \u201cYou have to be yourself. Johnny Carson was always himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

After an intermission, guests took their seats, and Trump took the stage to deliver a speech and introduce the \u201cincredible artists\u201d of the night.<\/p>\n

The annual dinner is used to honor Americans who have impacted the country\u2019s arts and culture. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is fantastic, isn\u2019t it? It is just so incredible. This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center. Not even a contest. There has never been anything like it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe show is already getting rave reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump had named himself chair of the Kennedy Center\u2019s board of trustees and quickly purged all of former President Joe Biden\u2019s appointees.<\/p>\n

The president argued that a major overhaul was required because of a prior decision to allow drag show performances at DC\u2019s marquee cultural venue, among other concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy Center is in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country, most of it because of bad management,\u201d Trump vented to reporters in March<\/a> after personally inspecting the venerated cultural center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a shame, what I\u2019ve watched and witnessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, he crowed that it would be the first time that a sitting president has hosted the awards. He said he\u2019ll be criticized no matter what he does \u2014 but he\u2019s confident he\u2019ll be a better host than Jimmy Kimmel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don\u2019t think I should be president,\u201d Trump joked.<\/p>\n

President Trump awarded the acclaimed performers in the Oval Office on Saturday. AP<\/p>\n

Kimmel previously hosted the Academy Awards, and has been a frequent critic of the president. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how involved Trump was with the process of selecting the honorees, but Stallone is a close ally and is serving as Trump\u2019s ambassador to Hollywood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great guy. He\u2019s done a fantastic job and he really deserves this honor. You know, it\u2019s something he\u2019s wanted for years and this is bigger than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d Trump said on the red carpet Sunday.<\/p>\n

Stallone was honored for becoming a cultural icon with movies such as \u201cRocky\u201d and \u201cRambo,\u201d while Gaynor was celebrated for \u201cI Will Survive\u201d and Kiss for its flamboyant makeup and performances.<\/p>\n

The 48th Kennedy Center Honors ceremony comes on the heels of the death of Kiss\u2019 original lead guitarist Ace Frehley, who died in October from injuries after he fell. <\/p>\n

British actor Michael Crawford and country music superstar\u00a0George Strait were also celebrated at the feted event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be something that I believe, and I\u2019m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they\u2019ve ever done,\u201d Trump teased on Saturday. <\/p>\n

The president honored the acclaimed<\/a> performers during a brief ceremony in the Oval Office on Saturday, the eve of the ritzy dinner.<\/p>\n

The president had notched some $250 million from Congress to renovate the sprawling complex. <\/p>\n

Among the myriad of changes made so far, Trump\u2019s team revamped the prior award design, which entailed a rainbow-patterned sash laced with three gold medals, to a sleeker gold and rainbow medal.<\/p>\n

The splashy gathering to recognize stars for their impact on American arts and culture has been an annual staple in Washington, DC, since 1978. <\/p>\n

While Trump had shunned the event during his first term, presidents have attended rather than emceeing it.<\/p>\n

The show will air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 A tuxedo-wearing President Trump hosted Sunday evening\u2019s feted\u00a048th\u00a0Kennedy Center Honors ceremony \u2014 marking the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,33591,33327,5537,9,11,10,87,33328,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-64094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-kennedy-center","10":"tag-kennedy-center-honors","11":"tag-kiss","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-sylvester-stallone","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}