Who are the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees?
By Aleena Fayaz, CNN
Washington (CNN) — 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’s awards show.
The president in August unveiled the recipients and announced he would host the show, as he continues a hands-on approach to overhauling programming and drawing up plans for renovating the complex.
Trump, who skipped the honors during his first term, said he was “98% involved” in picking the center’s next slate of honorees, personally rejecting some he felt were too “woke.”
The president continues to publicly state that people may start referring to the performing arts center as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” a joke he repeated at this week’s FIFA World Cup draw held at the Washington, DC, institution.
This year’s honorees include songwriter George Strait, actors Michael Crawford and Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, and the rock band KISS.
The program will air December 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount.
Ahead of the main event, Trump presented the honorees with their medals Saturday evening in the Oval Office, distinguishing them as “the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center honorees ever assembled.”
George Strait
Record-setting country artist George Strait grew up in a small town south of San Antonio, Texas, and broke into stardom with his 1981 album “Strait Country.” 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 for the largest ticketed show in US history when he performed at Kyle Field at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, in 2024.
Michael Crawford
English actor and Broadway alumnus Michael Crawford is best known for his starring role in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” one of Trump’s 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 “Barnum.”
Sylvester Stallone
Actor Sylvester Stallone is often remembered for his performance in the “Rocky” series, in which he played underdog boxer Rocky Balboa, but in recent years, Stallone’s starring role has been more political. In January, Trump named Stallone one of three “Special Ambassadors” 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 “the second George Washington” and “a really mythical character.”
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor’s hit songs “I Will Survive” and “The Eye of the Tiger” have cemented her title as the queen of disco. In March 2016, Gaynor’s recording of “I Will Survive” was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Gaynor appears to be an active GOP donor who has donated to numerous Republican candidates since 2016 under her birth name “Gloria Fowles,” according to FEC filings.
KISS
American glam rock band KISS, whose hits include “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” 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 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. Ace Frehley, KISS’ original lead guitarist, died in October. Monique Frehley, the guitarist’s daughter, received her late father’s medal during Trump’s Oval Office awards ceremony Saturday.
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