WATCH: Trump speaks before hosting the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sylvester Stallone, Kiss and Gloria Gaynor were among the dignitaries celebrated Sunday at the annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala, where Donald Trump will host the show, marking the first time a head honcho has taken over the stage instead of sitting on the Opera House dais.

Watch Trump’s remarks in the video player above.

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

In response to a question when he arrived for the ceremony how he found time to prepare, Trump said that he “didn’t really prepare much.”

“I have a good memory, so I can remember things, which is very lucky,” the president said. “But I just wanted to be myself. You have to be yourself. Johnny Carson, he was the same.”

He watches: Trump presents medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees in the Oval Office

Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. He said on Saturday during a dinner hosted by the State Department for the honorees that he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted the broadcast, scheduled to air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, would receive its best ratings ever.

Trump takes on the role played in the past by journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. Before Trump, presidents watched the parade alongside the honorees. Trump completely skipped honors during his first term.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one of the Cabinet secretaries who attended the ceremony, said he was looking forward to Trump’s job hosting the event.

“Oh, this president, he’s so comfortable in front of these cameras, you know, and so funny, and I can’t wait for tonight,” Lutnick said upon arriving with his wife, who is a Kennedy Center board member.

Since 1978, the stars have been honored for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year’s class are some of the most prominent figures in pop culture, including Stallone for his films “Rocky” and “Rambo,” Gaynor for her feminist anthem “I Will Survive,” and KISS for her cartoonish glitter makeup, smoke shows and onstage fireworks. Country music star George Strait and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford are also honored.

The concert is expected to be an emotional one for Kiss members. The band’s original guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after being injured in a fall. Speaking on the red carpet as he and other honorees arrived for the ceremony, band co-founder Gene Simmons said the president assured him there would be an empty chair among the Kiss members in Frehley’s memory.

Stallone said the honor at the ceremony was “the eye of the hurricane.”

“This is an amazing event,” he added. “But you’re stuck in the middle of it. It’s hard to process it until the next day…but I’m very humbled by it.”

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

Gaynor said the honor “seems like a dream.” “To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle,” she said on the red carpet.

She is a dear friend,” said Mike Farris, an award-winning gospel singer who performs for Gaynor. “She really survived,” Faris said. “What an iconic song.”

Actor Neal McDonough said he would present the award to Stallone, which he said was a long time coming because of Stallone’s writing and acting. But that’s not the best part, McDonough said. “The best part is that Sly is one of the greatest men I’ve ever met.”

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

Trump took over the Kennedy Center

Trump upended decades of partisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and packing the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who then elected him president. He criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance, and said, perhaps in jest, that he would rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center. He obtained more than $250 million from Congress to renovate the building.

He watches: The Kennedy Center faces a crossroads as it is drawn into partisan politics

At times, the heads of each political party found themselves face to face with artists with opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there to honor Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who signed the assault weapons ban into law, honored Charlton Heston, the actor and gun rights advocate.

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

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

The honorees’ opinions about Trump

Street and Gaynor have said little about their policies, although Federal Election Commission records show 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 efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said that Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.

“If your candidate loses, it’s time to learn from them, accept them and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. “If your candidate wins, it is time to understand that those who do not share your views also believe they are right and love this country just as much as you do.”

Italy reported from New York.