KISS Among DONALD TRUMP's Kennedy Center Honorees

Legendary rockers KISS will be recognized as Kennedy Center Honors recipients as part of U.S. president Donald Trump's first turn as the chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center. Also scheduled to be honored at the first awards gala held since Trump's overhaul of Washington's prominent arts destination are country music star George Strait, "Rocky" actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor and actor-singer Michael Crawford.

Trump announced the honorees during a press conference at the performing arts center on Wednesday.

"The 48th Kennedy Center honorees are outstanding people, an outstanding group — incredible," Trump said. "We can't wait to celebrate the Kennedy Center Honors."

Trump will also host and produce the show, which recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to American culture through performing arts.

The annual ceremony traditionally takes place in Washington, D.C. in December and airs on CBS.

The Kennedy Center previewed the announcement Tuesday, writing in a post on X: "A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House..."

During his first term, Trump seemingly paid no attention to the Kennedy Center, often skipping the honors ceremony. He has since vowed to transform the marquee arts center, first ousting its leadership board, then filling the board of trustees with his loyalists.

In a November 2022 interview with Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons spoke about Trump, on whose "The Celebrity Apprentice" show he was once a contestant.

"For the record, when [Trump] first ran in 2016 and got elected, I was happy," Gene said. "I knew the guy from before then, seeing him in clubs and stuff like that. And for the record, he had Bill and Hillary [Clinton] at his wedding and Howard Stern went to his wedding. He's not a politician. But my point, I wanna say for the record, and people will tell you who know me, 'Oh, yeah, Gene was happy that Trump won.' I was. I didn't want Hillary [to be president]. I thought, 'Oh, a businessman is coming in. He understands how to run things.'"

When Maher pointed out that Trump didn't understand how government works and didn't care to learn, Gene said: "I agree. The person that I saw first coming into power is not the person I saw within a year or two of that… But I changed, the way lots of people changed."

Simmons had previously been critical of Trump during a May 2022 interview with SPIN. He said: "I know the previous [U.S.] president," he said. "I knew him before he entered politics. Look what that gentleman did to this country and the polarization — got all the cockroaches to rise to the top. Once upon a time, you were embarrassed to be publicly racist and out there with conspiracy theories. Now it's all out in the open because he allowed it."

Simmons went on to say that he and Trump "knew each other" before "The Celebrity Apprentice", "in clubs and all that. You have a different responsibility when you're just a citizen or an entrepreneur," he added. "You don't make policy. It doesn't affect life and death. When you get into a position of power, it does affect lives.

"I don't think he's a Republican or a Democrat," Gene said of Trump. "He's out for himself, any way you can get there. And in the last election, over 70 million people bought it hook, line and sinker."

Simmons also touched upon his feelings about the Trump presidency in August 2021 while speaking to Yahoo!'s Lyndsey Parker about the negative response he gets from some of his fans every time he shared his pro-vaccine stance on Twitter.

"It's been politicized," he said. "The gentleman who was in office, the former president [Donald Trump], I knew before the political world. It's the same person I knew before; the stripes of a tiger don't change. And the unfortunate thing is that… Look, we all lie to some extent, but what happened the last four years was beyond anything I ever thought imaginable from people who had lots of power — not just him, but the administration, everybody. And unfortunately, that disease — The Big Lie notwithstanding — has really infected a large portion of the population."

Asked to elaborate on his comment that Trump was "the same person" he knew when he was a contestant on Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice" series, Gene said: "We were in a restaurant together, and I happened to be with an attractive young lady. And he walked up and said, 'Hey, Gene, you and I, we're exactly the same. We like the hot chicks.' That was a strange thing to say, but yeah, I guess that's true. But I think it's the same person. And maybe that was the appeal and continues to be. People are sick and tired of politically correct language and stuff."

In the past, Gene had defended Trump's occasional off-color remarks and frequently outrageous statements, saying: "I don't know anybody here who hasn't said stupid things publicly or privately. You've said potty words and so have I. So I'm gonna give the guy who was duly elected a chance to show us what he can do, and then I'll judge his legacy."

In 2017, Simmons confirmed that KISS was invited to perform at Trump's inauguration but turned it down because it was "not a good idea."