WATCH: Trump presents medals to 2025 Kennedy Center honorees in the Oval Office

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, praising the list of artists he was deeply involved in selecting as “perhaps the most accomplished and distinguished class” ever assembled.

Watch the event in the video player above.

This year’s winners are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, rock band KISS, and actor and singer Michael Crawford.

He watches: Trump named Strait, Stallone and Kiss for the Kennedy Center Awards and said he would host the awards show

Trump said they were a group of “incredible people” who represented “the best in American arts and culture,” adding, “I knew most of them and admired them all.”

“This is a group of icons whose actions and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and united millions and millions of Americans,” Trump said, dressed in formal attire. “This is perhaps the most accomplished and distinguished class of Kennedy Center honorees ever.”

Trump’s control of the Kennedy Center

Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its first awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has made a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting his board of trustees and replacing him with GOP supporters who voted for him as board chair.

Trump also criticized the center’s programs and appearance, vowing to reform both.

He watches: Ben Folds talks about his stance for artistic freedom after Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center

The president placed around each of the honorees’ necks a new medallion designed, manufactured and donated by the jewelry company Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy-Trump Center.

It is a gold disc with an image of the Kennedy Center and the colors of the rainbow engraved on one side. The honoree’s name appears on the back along with the ceremony date. The medal hangs from a dark blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plaques that rest on the honoree’s shoulders and chest.

Trump honors the honorees

Street, wearing a cowboy hat, was the first to receive his medal. As the country singer began to remove the hat, Trump said: “If you want to leave it, you can. And I think we can make it happen.” But the strait took him off.

The president said Crawford was a “great Broadway star” for his lead role in the long-running “Phantom of the Opera.” “We have the Queen of Disco,” he said of Gaynor, “and she was one, and no one did it like Gloria Gaynor.”

Trump exaggerated his talk about his friend Stallone, describing him as a “wonderful” and “amazing” person, “one of the true great movie stars” and “one of the great legends.”

He said Kiss is a “great rock band.”

Songs by honorees Gaynor and Case played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office while members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.

The president said in August that he was “about 98 percent involved” in selecting the 2025 honorees when he announced them in person at the Kennedy Center, the first slate selected under his leadership. Traditionally the honorees were announced through a press release.

It was not clear how they were selected. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan select committee.

“These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest we’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “We can’t imagine the phenomenon of country music without the King of Country, or American disco without the First Lady, or Broadway without its ghost — and that was a ghost, let me tell you — or rock ‘n’ roll without the best band in the world, which is what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.”

“Each of you has left an indelible mark on American life, and together you have defined entire musical genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.

Trump was also attending the State Department’s annual dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In past years, the honorees received their medals there, but Trump moved the ceremony to the White House.

Trump hosts Kennedy Center Honors

Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center’s compelling tribute program and a series of tribute speeches and performances by each recipient are scheduled to be taped Sunday at the Center for the Performing Arts for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is scheduled to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump.

The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show, and on Saturday he appeared to confirm that he would do so, expecting the broadcast to have its highest viewership ever as a result. Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honorees in the audience. None of them had ever served as host.

He said he looked forward to celebrating on Sunday.

“It’s going to be something I think, and I’m going to make a prediction: This is going to be the highest-rated show they’ve ever done, and they’ve gotten some very good reviews, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” Trump said.

The president also criticized late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC after criticism for his comments related to the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel and Trump are highly critical of each other, with the president regularly mocking Kimmel’s talent as a host. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and Academy Awards several times.

Trump said he should be able to outdo Kimmel.

“I saw some people hosting the party. Jimmy Kimmel was terrible,” Trump said. “If I can’t beat Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, I don’t think I should be president.”