Trump says he's hosting the Kennedy Center Honors recognizing Stallone, Kiss, Gaynor and others

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sylvester Stallone, Kiss and Gloria Gaynor are among the luminaries being celebrated Sunday at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, with Donald Trump hosting the show, the first time a president will command the stage instead of sitting in an Opera House box.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.

Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. The Republican president said Saturday at a State Department dinner for the honorees that he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted that the broadcast, scheduled to air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, 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.

Trump is assuming a role that has been held in the past by journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one of several Cabinet secretaries attending the ceremony, said he's looking forward to Trump's hosting job.

“Oh this president, he is so relaxed in front of these cameras, as you know, and so funny, I can’t wait for tonight,” Lutnick said as he arrived with his wife, who is on the Kennedy Center board.

Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year's class are pop-culture standouts, including Stallone for his “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies, Gaynor for her feminist anthem “I Will Survive” and Kiss for its flashy, cartoonish makeup and onstage displays of smoke and pyrotechnics. Country music superstar George Strait and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford are also being honored.

The ceremony is expected to be emotional for the members of Kiss. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall. The band's co-founder Gene Simmons, speaking on the red carpet when he and the other honorees arrived for the ceremony, said the president had assured him there would be an empty chair among the members of Kiss in memory of Frehley.

Stallone said being honored at the ceremony was like being in the “eye of a hurricane.”

“This is an amazing event,” he said. “But you’re caught up in the middle of it. It’s hard to take it in until the next day. ..: but I’m incredibly humbled by it.”

Crawford also said it was “humbling, especially at the end of a career.”

Gaynor said it “feels like a dream” to be honored. "To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle," she said on the red carpet.

Mike Farris, an award-winning gospel singer who is performing for Gaynor, said she is a dear friend. “She truly did survive,” Farris said. "What an iconic song.”

Actor Neil McDonough said he’s presenting the award to Stallone, which he said was long over due for Stallone's writing and acting. “But that isn’t even the best part,” McDonough said. "The best part is that Sly is one of he greatest guys I’ve ever met.”

Previous honorees have come from a broad range of art forms, whether dance (Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham), theater (Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber), movies (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) or music (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell).

Trump upended decades of bipartisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and stacking the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who then elected him chair. He has criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance — and has said, perhaps jokingly, that he would rename it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” He secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.

Presidents of each political party have at times found themselves face to face with artists of opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there for honoree Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who had signed an assault weapons ban into law, marked the honors for Charlton Heston, an actor and gun rights advocate.

During Trump’s first term, multiple honorees were openly critical of the president. In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, honors recipient and film producer Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump stayed away during that entire term.

Trump has said he was deeply involved in choosing the 2025 honorees and turned down some recommendations because they were “too woke." While Stallone is one of Trump's Hollywood ”special ambassadors" and has likened Trump to George Washington, the political views of Sunday's other guests are less clear.

Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years.

Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016. But in 2022, Simmons told Spin magazine that Trump was “out for himself” and criticized Trump for encouraging conspiracy theories and public expressions of racism.

Fellow Kiss member Paul Stanley denounced Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.

“If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. "If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”

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Italie reported from New York.

2025 Kennedy Center Honoree Sylvester Stallone, right, and Jennifer Flavin arrive on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

2025 Kennedy Center Honoree Gloria Gaynor arrives on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

2025 Kennedy Center Honoree George Strait, center left, and his family arrive on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

2025 Kennedy Center Honoree Michael Crawford, center, and his family arrive on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees, front row from left, Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford; back row from left, members of the rock band KISS, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, pose for a group photo at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings had no bigger problem in this messy season than turnovers, with a league-worst minus-15 margin entering this week.

In a much-needed momentum-builder for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy, they finally kept a firm grip on the ball — up and down the field.

McCarthy threw a career-high three touchdown passes in his first turnover-free game, returning from his latest injury absence in prime form for the Vikings in a 31-0 victory on Sunday that sent the Washington Commanders to their eighth straight loss.

“It’s just something I feel like should’ve happened a lot earlier,” McCarthy said. “I absolutely love those guys for the grace and patience they’ve had with me, but we’ve got to continue to do it again.”

McCarthy went 16 for 23 for 163 yards in his seventh NFL start, after sitting out last week in Seattle with a concussion while the Vikings were shut out for the first time in 18 years and dropped their fourth consecutive game with the offense in disrepair. One week later, they got to deliver the shutout — in just their second turnover-free game of the season.

They also stopped a three-game losing streak at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings heard plenty of boos the previous time they played at home.

“It felt good to play to the standard our fans expect,” coach Kevin O'Connell said.

McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie year after knee surgery and five games earlier this season with a sprained ankle, targeted his tight ends for all three scores — the first two to Josh Oliver and the last one to T.J. Hockenson.

As smooth as the afternoon went for the Vikings (5-8), the return of the starting quarterback for the Commanders (3-10) produced nothing positive — only pain.

Jayden Daniels, the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award winner, was forced out midway through the third quarter when he was blocked during an interception return and landed hard on the left elbow he dislocated last month to require a three-game absence. Daniels missed three games to injury earlier this season, too. Marcus Mariota, who is 1-5 as the starter, threw an interception and lost a fumble in relief.

“When you get beat 31-0, it’s not about offense or defense. That’s just bad,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “We just didn’t play any kind of complementary football, and this is the result.”

McCarthy, who took four sacks and faced plenty of pressure, looked like a seasoned pro from the start as the Vikings elected to take the ball first and opened with a seven-play, 61-yard drive for their first touchdown in nine quarters.

The defense stopped the Commanders on fourth-and-goal from the 2 when Deebo Samuel stumbled in the back of the end zone and failed to hang on to the throw from Daniels — a third straight incompletion despite owning one of the league's best rushing attacks and averaging 4.7 yards per attempt on the ground on Sunday.

Then McCarthy directed a 19-play, 98-yard drive that drained 12:01 off the clock, as the Vikings converted all five third downs — including three with 6-plus yards to go. Jordan Mason capped the possession with a touchdown run, as the Vikings leaned on him and Aaron Jones for a combined 128 yards on 25 carries.

Justin Jefferson, who has totaled just four receptions for 15 yards over his past two games, frequently pumped his fist in support of McCarthy after completions that moved the chains. The two-time All-Pro was so relieved to experience a well-rounded victory such as this with his teammates that he didn't mind McCarthy missing him wide open on a post route from their 34-yard line late in the third quarter, when McCarthy scrambled for a first down instead.

“It’s definitely one of those plays I wish would’ve come to me, but it happens sometimes and that’s part of the game," Jefferson said. "As long as we win, that’s what I really care about.”

The time of possession during Minnesota's second touchdown drive was the longest in the NFL since 2021, when San Francisco had the ball for 13:05 on a Week 11 possession at Jacksonville.

This was the longest drive duration for the Vikings since at least 2000, as far as Sportradar data goes back on this category. Their most recent possession that hit 19 plays was in Week 3 in 2008 against Carolina. That ended with a field goal.

After Daniels left, 13-year veteran TE Zach Ertz hurt his right knee on a hard and low hit during an incompletion from Mariota. The Commanders feared he tore his ACL.

The Commanders play at the New York Giants next Sunday afternoon.

The Vikings visit the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday night.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) looks to pass while being chased by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel (43) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) runs with the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) reacts after throwing a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) passes the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) reacts after running back Jordan Mason, foreground left, scored a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)