{"id":335038,"date":"2025-12-07T12:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T12:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/335038\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T12:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T12:41:10","slug":"who-are-the-2025-kennedy-center-honorees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/335038\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Household names from the music and film industry will be recognized Sunday night at the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors, but it will be President Donald Trump who is center stage as he hosts the institution\u2019s awards show.\n <\/p>\n

\n The president in August<\/a> unveiled the recipients and announced he would host the show, as he continues a hands-on approach<\/a> to overhauling programming and drawing up plans for renovating the complex.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump, who skipped the honors during his first term, said he was \u201c98% involved\u201d in picking the center\u2019s next slate of honorees, personally rejecting some he felt were too \u201cwoke<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The president continues to publicly state<\/a> that people may start referring to the performing arts center as the \u201cTrump Kennedy Center,\u201d a joke he repeated at this week\u2019s FIFA World Cup draw<\/a> held at the Washington, DC, institution.\n <\/p>\n

\n This year\u2019s honorees include songwriter George Strait, actors Michael Crawford and Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, and the rock band KISS.\n <\/p>\n

\n The program will air December 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ahead of the main event, Trump presented the honorees with their medals Saturday evening in the Oval Office, distinguishing them as \u201cthe most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center honorees ever assembled.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Record-setting country artist George Strait<\/a> grew up in a small town south of San Antonio, Texas, and broke into stardom with his 1981 album \u201cStrait Country.\u201d Strait has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, and in 2006, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Strait previously held the record<\/a> for the largest ticketed show in US history when he performed at Kyle Field at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, in 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

\n English actor and Broadway alumnus Michael Crawford<\/a> is best known for his starring role in Andrew Lloyd Weber\u2019s \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera,\u201d one of Trump\u2019s favorite musicals. Prior to his Broadway run, which earned him Tony Award for best actor in 1988, Crawford played the 19th-century showman, businessman and ringmaster P.T. Barnum in the 1986 film \u201cBarnum.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n Actor Sylvester Stallone is often remembered for his performance in the \u201cRocky\u201d series, in which he played underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, but in recent years, Stallone\u2019s starring role has been more political. In January, Trump named Stallone one of three \u201cSpecial Ambassadors<\/a>\u201d to Hollywood. Stallone endorsed Trump late in the 2024 campaign and introduced the president at the America First Policy Institute Gala last year, calling Trump \u201cthe second George Washington\u201d and \u201ca really mythical character.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Sylvester<\/p>\n

\n Gloria Gaynor\u2019s hit songs \u201cI Will Survive\u201d and \u201cThe Eye of the Tiger\u201d have cemented her title as the queen of disco.<\/a> In March 2016, Gaynor\u2019s recording of \u201cI Will Survive\u201d was inducted<\/a> into the Library of Congress\u2019 National Recording Registry. Gaynor appears to be an active GOP donor who has donated to numerous Republican candidates since 2016 under her birth name \u201cGloria Fowles,\u201d according to FEC filings<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/p>\n

\n American glam rock band KISS, whose hits include<\/a> \u201cRock and Roll All Nite\u201d and \u201cI Was Made for Lovin\u2019 You,\u201d was founded in 1973 by singer-guitarist Paul Stanley and tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons. Their theatrical stage shows with fire and fake blood spewing from the mouths of band members dressed in body armor, platform boots, wigs and signature black-and-white face paint earned them a star<\/a> on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. Ace Frehley, KISS\u2019 original lead guitarist, died in October<\/a>. Monique Frehley, the guitarist\u2019s daughter, received her late father\u2019s medal during Trump\u2019s Oval Office awards ceremony Saturday.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Household names from the music and film industry will be recognized Sunday night at the 48th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-335038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}