President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he would host the upcoming Kennedy Center awards, as he unveiled the honorees at a press conference.
Actor Sylvester Stallone, the rock band KISS, country music legend George Strait and singer Gloria Gaynor were selected as the nominees as well as the British actor Michael Crawford.
The president said he was ‘about 98 percent involved’ in the selection process.
‘I turned down plenty. They were too woke. I had a couple of wokesters,’ he said, about the proposed nominees.
The president said he did not want to host the award ceremony, but the new Kennedy Center board insisted – especially his chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Trump said the country was tired of award ceremonies like the Academy Awards because they were too ‘woke.’
‘Look at the Academy Awards. It gets lousy ratings. Now it’s all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump, but nobody likes that. They don’t watch anymore,’ he said.
Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after taking office for his second term, appointing himself as the chairman and appointing fourteen new members to the board.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the Kennedy Center
President Donald Trump (L) and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to attend the opening night of “Les Miserables” at the Kennedy Center in June
The president was joined by members of the Kennedy Center board appointed by Trump including his White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Senator Lindsey Graham, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Director of Presidential Personnel Sergio Gor and Richard Grenell – the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center.
He praised Stallone, a supporter of his, as one of the best actors of his generation.
‘Nobody else could have done what he did. They tried and it didn’t work out too well,’ he said pointing to the films Rambo and Rocky as monumental achievements.
‘I’ll never forget I was a young guy and I went to see a thing called ‘Rambo,’ he recalled. ‘I said, “This movie is phenomenal. What the heck.” That turned out to be a monster.’
Trump praised Crawford as ‘an international sensation’ for playing ‘one of the greatest roles in the history of Broadway’ as the Phantom of the Opera.
‘Nobody did it like him,’ he said.
Michael Crawford, the stage actor who was the original Phantom of the Opera and Actor Sylvester Stallone
Country music singer George Strait and disco singer Gloria Gaynor
Trump described Gaynor as ‘one of the most revered singer of the American disco era,’ praising her song, ‘I Will Survive’ as an ‘unbelievable song.
‘I have heard it, like everyone else here, thousands of times.
And it is one of those few that get better every time you hear it,’ he said. ‘And no one can sing it like her.’
He revealed that he always wanted a Kennedy award, calling them one of the ‘most prestigious’ awards in show business.
‘Next year we’ll honor Trump, okay?’ he joked.
