Trump awards medals to the Kennedy Centre honourees in Oval Office ceremony

President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Centre honourees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class ever assembledThis years recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait the rock band Kiss and actorsinger Michael Crawford Trump said they are a group of incredible people who represent the very best in American arts and culture and that I know most of them and Ive been a fan of all of themThis is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americansiquest said a tuxedoclad Trump This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Centre Honourees ever assembledTrumps takeover of the Kennedy CentreTrump ignored the Kennedy Centre and its premier awards program during his first term as president But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the boardTrump also has criticized the centres programming and its physical appearance and has vowed to overhaul both The president placed around each honourees neck a new medal that was designed created and donated by jeweller Tiffany and Co according to the Kennedy Centre and TrumpIts a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Centres image and rainbow colours The honourees name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honourees shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honours program in 1978Trump honours the honoureesStrait wearing a cowboy hat was first to receive his medal When the country singer started to take off the hat Trump said If you want to leave it on you can I think we can get it through But Strait took it offThe president said Crawford was a great star of Broadway for his lead role in the longrunning Phantom of the Opera Of Gaynor he said We have the disco queen and she was indeed and nobody did it like Gloria GaynorTrump was effusive about his friend Stallone calling him a wonderful and spectacular person and one of the true great movie stars and one of the great legends Kiss is an incredible rock band he said Songs by honourees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremonyThe president president said in August that he was about 98 per cent involved in choosing the 2025 honourees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Centre the first slate chosen under his leadershipThe honourees traditionally had been announced by press release It was unclear how they were chosen Before Trump it fell to a bipartisan selection committeeThese are among the greatest artists actors and performers of their generation The greatest that weve seen Trump said We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country or American disco without its first lady or Broadway without its phantom iquest and that was a phantom let me tell you iquest or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world and thats what they are or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionariesEach of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts Trump said Trump was also attending an annual State Department dinner for the honourees on Saturday In years past the honourees received their medallions there but Trump moved the ceremony to the White HouseTrump to host the Kennedy Centre HonoursMeanwhile the glitzy Kennedy Centre Honours programme and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts centre for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president accompanied by his wife first lady Melania TrumpThe president said in August that he had agreed to host the show and he seemed to confirm on Saturday that he would do so predicting that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honourees in the audience None has ever served as hostHe said he looked forward to Sundays celebration Its going to be something that I believe and Im going to make a prediction this will be the highestrated show that theyve ever done and theyve gotten some pretty good ratings but theres nothing like whats going to happen tomorrow night Trump saidThe president also swiped at latenight TV show host Jimmy Kimmel whose programme was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC following criticism of his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in SeptemberKimmel and Trump are sharp critics of each other with the president regularly deriding Kimmels talent as a host Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Academy Award multiple times Trump said he should be able to outdo KimmelIve watched some of the people that host Jimmy Kimmel was horrible Trump said If I cant beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent then I dont think I should be presidentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever