2025 Kennedy Center honorees: Trump to host 48th annual ceremony

Trump speaks at Kennedy Center

President Trump delivered remarks at the Kennedy Center on Saturday. Trump presented medallions to the 2025 Kennedy Center Honor recipients.

The 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors will take place Sunday night at the famed Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts.

US President Donald Trump, left, presents a medal to actor Michael Crawford during the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via

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2025 Kennedy Center honorees

This year’s Kennedy Center honorees are: 

• Actor Sylvester Stallone
• Rock band KISS
• Singer Gloria Gaynor 
• Country singer George Strait
• Stage and screen actor Michael Crawford

How to watch Kennedy Center Honors

The 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors is set to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Dec. 23.

Who’s hosting 2025 Kennedy Center Honors?

President Donald Trump is hosting the show. It’s the first time a president will host instead of watching in the audience with the honorees.  Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.

What they're saying:

Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. At a State Department dinner for the honorees Saturday, Trump said he was doing so "at the request of a certain television network." He predicted that the broadcast would have its best ratings ever.

"It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen" on Sunday night, Trump said.

Previous hosts include journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. 

An emotional night for KISS

Dig deeper:

The ceremony is expected to be an emotional one for the members of Kiss. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall. He was 74 years old. 

RELATED: KISS guitarist Ace Frehley's cause of death revealed

Previous Kennedy Center honorees

The backstory:

Previous Kennedy Center honorees include composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, actors Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and musicians Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, among many others.