WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will be making an announcement on Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, where the honorees of this year’s annual awards will be disclosed.
During his first term, Trump distanced himself from the Kennedy Center Honors due to artists expressing their intention not to attend in protest. This year, as the new chairman of the Kennedy Center, the Republican president has replaced the board of trustees with his supporters.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump hinted at a potential name change for the center, officially known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and mentioned plans to restore its former grandeur.
The Kennedy Center is seen Aug. 13, 2019, in Washington.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” Trump wrote, adding that renovations were underway to elevate it to the “absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.”
“It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!!” he wrote.
The criteria for selecting this year’s honorees remain unclear, although Trump expressed a desire for more involvement. Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee has been responsible for choosing recipients, including figures like George Balanchine, Tom Hanks, Aretha Franklin, and Stephen Sondheim. A request for information from the Kennedy Center’s press office regarding this year’s selection process was not answered on Tuesday.
However, the Kennedy Center posted on social media: “Coming Soon … A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City rock band, a dance queen, and a multi-billion dollar actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House …”
In the past, Trump has floated the idea of granting Kennedy Center Honors status to singer-songwriter Paul Anka and actor Sylvester Stallone, one of three actors Trump named as Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year. Anka was supposed to perform “My Way” at Trump’s first inaugural and backed out at the last moment.
The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 and have been handed out to a broad range of artists. Until Trump’s first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient.
Prominent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honored during the administration of Republican George W. Bush, and a leading conservative, Charlton Heston, was feted during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton.
In 2017, after honoree Norman Lear declared that he would not attend a White House celebration in protest of Trump’s proposed cuts to federal arts funding, Trump and first lady Melania Trump decided to skip the Kennedy Center event and remained away throughout his first term. Honorees during that time included such Trump critics as Cher, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sally Field.
Since taking office for a second time, Trump has taken a much more forceful stance on the Kennedy Center and inserted himself into its governance. Besides naming himself chairman and remaking the board, he also has indicated he would take over decisions regarding programming at the center and vowed to end events featuring performers in drag.
The steps have drawn further criticism from some artists. In March, the producers of “Hamilton” pulled out of staging the Broadway hit musical in 2026, citing Trump’s aggressive takeover of the institution’s leadership. Other artists who canceled events include actor Issa Rae, singer Rhiannon Giddens and author Louise Penny.
House Republicans have introduced an amendment to a spending bill that would rename the Kennedy Center’s opera house after Melania Trump. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President Kennedy, a Democrat, has criticized as “insane” a separate House proposal to rename the center after Trump.
Recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors are given a medallion on a rainbow ribbon, a nod to the range of skills that fall under the performing arts. In April, the center changed the lights on the exterior from the long-standing rainbow to a permanent red, white and blue display.
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