Washington – On Wednesday, President Donald Trump appointed rural music star George Street, actor “Rocky” Silvertter Stallone, singer Gloria Jennour, Rock Kis, and singer Michael Croford, among the first group of candidates to honor the Kennedy Center under his leadership as head of the center, and said that he would host the award program.
Trump also said that he would “renew” the entire infrastructure of the Kennedy Center to make it “the crown jewel” of the arts and culture in the United States.
Sylvester Stallone was revealed by President Donald Trump to receive honors of the Kennedy Center, at the Kennedy Center, on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, in Washington.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The President said: “We will send it to a higher level of success,” adding that the place will appear in the celebrations of the next 250 anniversary of the American.
Trump said he did not want to host the program, but he was invited to do so and the agreement.
The Republican President avoided the Kennedy Center Awards program to honor during his first term after artists said they would not come from protest. This year, he took the position of new president of the Kennedy Center and shot the Board of Trustees, which was replaced by loyalists.
In a social publication in fact on Tuesday, Trump disturbed the name of the center, the John F. Center. Kennedy officially for theatrical arts, and said he would be restored to his previous glory.
The Kennedy Center was seen on August 13, 2019, in Washington.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
“The great candidates of the Trump Center/Kennedy, shouting, I mean, Kennedy Center, Awards,” Trump wrote. He said that the work was done on the site that would return it to “the absolute return to the absolute level of luxury, magic and entertainment.”
“She fell in difficult times, physically, but she will soon return a great return !!!” books.
In a statement on social media feeding, the Kennedy Center said it was “honored” to host Trump, who has been visiting for the third time since January.
“Thanks to his call, our beautiful building will be subject to renewal to restore its position and greatness,” the place said.
Trump complained during a visit in March that the building was “very bad”.
Trump, who indicated that he wanted a more active role in the selection process, said he was “about 98 % involved” in choosing the honorees. He said he “rejected many names,” saying that these individuals also “woke up” or very liberals. The artists he announced on Wednesday, including many favorites, described “wonderful people”.
Historically, the advisory committee of the two parties choose the beneficiaries, who have ranged over the years from George Balnchin and Tom Hanks to Aretta Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. A message was not returned to the Kennedy Center’s press office asking how the honorees for this year chose Tuesday.
In the past, Trump put forward the idea of granting the Kennedy Center to honor the singer and songwriter Paul Anca and Stalon, one of the three actors Trump named Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year. Ana was supposed to perform “my way” in the first opening of Trump and a decline at the last minute.
Honors were created for the Kennedy Center in 1978 and was granted to a wide range of artists. Until Trump’s first term, the presidents of the two main political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a specific recipient.
Promise liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honored during the Republic administration, George W. Bush, and a prominent governor, Charlton Histon, was moved during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton.
In 2017, after Norman Lear was honored that he would not attend a celebration of the White House in protest against Trump’s proposed discounts for financing federal arts, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump decided to overcome the Kennedy Center event and remained far away throughout his first term. At that time, the honorees included Trump’s critics such as Sher, Lin Manuel Miranda and Sally Field.
Since his return to office, Trump has taken a more powerful position in the Kennedy Center and introduced himself into governance. In addition to naming the Chairman of the Board himself and the reshaping of the Board of Directors, he indicated that he will take over the programming decisions in the center and pledged to end the events that offer the performance of the artists.
The steps have attracted more criticism from some artists. In March, Hamilton’s producers from Broadway music in 2026 withdrew, citing Trump’s aggressive seizure of the leadership of the Foundation.
Republicans in the House of Representatives added an amendment to the Bill Trump spending project signed a law in July to rename the Opera House at the Kennedy Center after Melania Trump, but this place has not yet been renamed. Maria Shrefar, the daughter of the sister of the late President Kennedy, a democracy, criticized as a “crazy” suggestion at home to restore the entire center after Trump.
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I mentioned Italian from New York. The Associated Press Darlin Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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