Kennedy Center Honors
Honoring the Grateful Dead without including co-founder Jerry Garcia, which the Kennedy Centers Honors program is doing this year, would be like honoring Earth, Wind & Fire without including Maurice White. Oh wait – the Kennedy Center did that too, in 2019, when they honored three members of the groundbreaking R&B group, but not its principal architect.
It’s not that the Kennedy Center is unaware of what a crucial role Garcia and White played in those groups. It’s just that they reserve their honors for artists who are living. Garcia died in 1995, 29 years before the group was chosen for the Kennedy Center Honors. White died in 2016, three years before EWF got the nod.
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This year’s Kennedy Center Honors were presented on Sunday Dec. 8 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. The show, hosted by Queen Latifah, will air on CBS on Sunday Dec. 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
The members of Grateful Dead who are being honored are drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bass guitarist Phil Lesh and rhythm guitarist Bobby Weir. Lesh died on Oct. 25, three months after this year’s honorees were announced. (The Kennedy Center allows posthumous inductions if the honorees were selected before they died.)
Two other groups received Kennedy Center Honors without key members who had died by the time the groups were included. The Who was honored in 2008, but without drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978, or bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. Led Zeppelin were honored in 2012, but drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, was not posthumously included.
The Kennedy Center Honors’ site makes plain that the awards “provide recognition to living individuals (emphasis added) who throughout their lifetimes have made significant contributions to American culture through the performing arts.” (Here’s a link to the site’s list of previous inductees.)
Eagles were selected for the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015, but founding member Glenn Frey was too ill to attend, so the honor was postponed one year. By that time, Frey had died, but the Center included him as a recipient anyway – on the grounds that the group was selected before he died. I’ll take it, but a better reason to honor him would have been that he co-founded the genre-bridging group with Don Henley and it wouldn’t have been what it was without him.
Mercifully, all four members of U2 were alive when the band received the honors in 2022. So were both members of The Nicholas Brothers, a popular dance duo of the 1930s to the 1950s. But if one of them had passed away, should that have precluded them from receiving the honor?
The Beatles, the GOAT of all pop and rock groups, are conspicuous by their absence on the roster of Kennedy Center Honors recipients. Paul McCartney was honored as an individual in 2010. A century from now, people looking over the list of Kennedy Center Honors recipients will find it strange that McCartney was honored but the group in which he did his best and most lasting work was not. Why haven’t they been? John Lennon died in 1980, followed by George Harrison in 2001. Their deaths are tragic losses, but why should those deaths keep the group from receiving an award it undisputably deserves?
Bee Gees were never honored. Instead, Barry Gibb got a solo nod in 2023, after the deaths of his brothers Maurice in 2003 and Robin in 2012. Even Barry Gibb would probably say it would have made more sense for him to be saluted alongside his brothers. Almost all of their successes as recording artists were as a unit.
The Beach Boys were never honored. Instead, Brian Wilson got a solo nod in 2007. He was unquestionably the group’s resident genius, but the quintet was one of the most iconic American groups of all time. Unfortunately, Wilson’s brother Dennis died in 1983, followed by Carl in 1998.
There are a few cases where it’s debatable whether it would have made more sense to honor an individual or the entire group. The Kennedy Center honored R&B great Mavis Staples in 2016. Two other members of The Staple Singers had died by that point – Pops Staples (in 2000) and Cleotha Staples (in 2013). In similar fashion, Gladys Knight was honored in 2022. Two other members of the mighty Gladys Knight & the Pips had died at that point – Edward Patten (in 2005) and William Guest (in 2015). There are arguments to be made on both sides about whether it made more sense to honor Staples and Knight as individuals or with the groups in which they had most of their greatest successes, but the fact that group members had died should not be the deciding factor.
When the Kennedy Center Honors finally get around to The Rolling Stones (and what are they waiting for?) it would be nice if they included drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. Other groups that are (or should be) on their list of future inductees which have both living and dead members include Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Pink Floyd and Queen.
It’s a sad fact of life that artists die. But with our greatest artists, their work lives on. The Kennedy Center should modify its rules so all key members of groups and duos are honored, whether they’re still living at the time of their inductions or have taken their final earthly bows.
The Kennedy Center Honors has become perhaps the most prestigious honor in American arts and entertainment. Who they choose to honor matters. That’s why they should take a close look at this limiting policy.
If they start to honor group members who have died, should they also change their rules and honor individuals who have died – maybe one per year? I certainly wouldn’t object. They could start with Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby, who died in 1977, the year before the Kennedy Center Honors got underway. And they could catch up to some other great artists they missed, including Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Burt Bacharach.
This year’s other honorees, in addition to the Dead, are Bonnie Raitt, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval; director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution.
Brandi Carlile’s solo career is going pretty well by any measure, but she has a dream about expanding into her own supergroup, she revealed to Billboard on the red carpet at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday night (Dec. 8), where she helped honor Bonnie Raitt. “I’ve got this plan — I’ve been hitting […]
Shakedown Street wound its way to the nation’s capital on Sunday (Dec. 8) as counterculture mingled with high arts culture at the 47th Kennedy Center Honors, where legendary rockers the Grateful Dead; blues rock songstress and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; acclaimed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; and jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval were inducted.
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In a first, the Honors this year inducted a venue, Harlem’s fabled The Apollo, in celebration of nine decades of the theater championing Black artists and culture.
The gala continues to elevate its unique mashup of celebrities, politicians and arts patrons—fun fact: former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is still in possession of a button from a late-‘80s Dead show—and the outgoing Administration was out in full force. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff received extended applause.
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Musical star power included Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Maggie Rogers, Dave Matthews, Queen Latifah, Leon Bridges, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Don Was, Sturgill Simpson, The War and Treaty, Jackson Browne, Trombone Shorty, Doug E Fresh, Raye, Grace VanderWaal and Keb Mo.
Non-musical talent was equally sparkling. Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Al Pacino and Laurence Fishburne were among those who feted Coppola, while Letterman, Miles Teller and Chloe Sevigny shared their personal connections to the Dead. Julia Louis Dreyfus celebrated Raitt, and Dave Chappelle paid hilarious homage to The Apollo.
Bonnie RaittWinner of 13 Grammys, including a best song award in 2023 when her soul-stirring “And Just Like That” beat out songs by Beyonce and Harry Styles among others, Raitt was lauded as much for her activism as for her vocals and killer moves on the slide guitar.
“As you get older you reflect on how you got where you got and that’s not just in your career but life, and I attribute a lot to Bonnie,” Crow shared with Billboard before the show.
She recounted seeing Raitt perform for the first time and buying her first guitar the next day. “When you’re a 17-year-old girl and you play piano, and you go see Bonnie Raitt and she’s ripping and she’s fronting a guy band and she’s singing truth… I would never have picked up a guitar or seen myself being out front had it not been for her,” Crowe said.
Raitt’s work in social justice has been a north star for Carlile, among so many others. “I’ve lucky enough to get talk to Bonnie for hours and hours about activism and the ways we get to carry ourselves as musicians and artists,” she said on the red carpet.
“I was maybe 17 years old at a Bonnie Raitt concert when a ‘No Nukes’ guitar pick landed on the toe of my shoe, and I picked that up and I found out what she meant by that. I carry all of her messages forward. The work she’s done for Indigenous people, for women’s rights… she’s so outspoken and so musically powerful. Everything she says is backed by a thunderstorm of conviction.”
On stage and accompanied on piano by Crow, Carlile delivered an earnest rendition of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” while Emmylou Harris and Dave Mathews stirred the heartstrings with their take on “Angel From Montgomery,” on which Raitt famously dueted with songwriter John Prine. Julia Louis Dreyfus praised Raitt’s authenticity, noting: “You know it’s Bonnie. It’s all red hair and no bullshit.” Jackson Browne, who noted his friend of 50 years “never stopped growing and expanding herself and her impulses as an artist,” before joining Crow, James Taylor and Arnold McCuller to croon “Nick of Time,” the title track from Raitt’s 1990 album that took home a Grammy album of the year.
Arturo SandovalSandoval, renowned for blending Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop and straight-ahead jazz, performed in 1990 at the Honors tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie. He embraced his turn in the spotlight by treating his fellow honorees and other guests at the White House dinner the evening before the gala with a spicy rendition of “God Bless America.” And well-wishers including Andy Garcia, Debbie Allen, Chris Botti and Cimafunk returned the favor on stage.
Fellow Cuban-born Garcia, who played Sandoval in the 2000 docudrama “For Love or Country,” peppered Sandoval’s string of accomplishments—winning four Grammys, five Latin Grammys and a Presidential Medal of Freedom, among them—with personal narratives: “He let me play in his band, but only if I brought the sandwiches.”
Allen described her relationship with Sandoval as a “lifelong creative marriage” that began at the Kennedy Center in 1996, and Botti described Sandoval as “the trumpet master” before he put his own trumpet stylings to a stirring version of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile.”
The ApolloThe Apollo served as the launching pad for artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross and Lauryn Hill, and Queen Latifah brought the audience through its decades of evolution.
Husband and wife duo The War and Treaty performed a gorgeous medley of hits by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, while Savion Glover performed a high-spirited tap dance routine.
Comedian Chappelle recounted his first, horrifying experience performing at Amateur Night after winning a contest when he was just 15. “Everybody started booing. It was like I was outside my body watching,” he said, before waxing sincere. “My favorite part of freedom is art. The Apollo theater is a church where we could talk like ourselves, to ourselves.”
Francis Ford CoppolaCoppola’s segment was, in a word, legendary. The tribute to the five-time Oscar winner, whose anthology includes The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti and Patton, brought out Hollywood heavy-hitters Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and Laurence Fishburne.
His sister Talia Shire, nephew Jason Schwartzman and granddaughter Gia Coppola also shared tributes and Grace VanderWaal, who appears in Coppola’s new film Megalopolis, performed a raspy, rousing version of “The Impossible Dream.”
Pacino mixed heart and humor, noting Coppola continues to break the cardinal rule in Hollywood: never invest in your own films. “For Apocalypse Now, he put up his house, with his wife and three kids in it. I know, I was there,” he quipped.
Noting without Coppola he wouldn’t have his career, DeNiro—whom the filmmaker cast in “The Godfather: Part II”—said, “And it’s not just me. Francis generously brings all of us into his family, into his world, into his dreams. And what dreams they are. Beautiful. Epic. Impossible.”
After sharing a few funny anecdotes, Scorsese compared his friend to visionary early pioneers of cinema because “he reinvents, he has the same spirit they had and constantly, time and time again, film after film and decade after decade, he reinvents, always expanding into new territory.”
The Grateful DeadAt 60 years and still truckin’, the Grateful Dead—whose original members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bobby Weir were in attendance—is mythological in its organic cultivation of community and the live show experience.
“The Grateful Dead was a dance band, and people like to dance and in those days there weren’t a lot of people dancing so that’s where the community started and the music just moved from there,” Hart told Billboard. “And we grew with the music.”
Weir broke it down like this: “We had no plan, we had no itinerary. We were just playing; that’s all we’ve ever done. Our entire agenda has been, Let’s make some more music.”
Pre-show, Maggie Rogers shared how her stint playing with Dead & Company in 2019 at Madison Square Garden completely changed her touring routine. “Before, I was playing basically the same set every night—and there’s a beautiful meditation in that repetition—but since then, I have my whole catalog on fridge magnets on the bus and we’re constituting a new set list every night. They showed me what it’s like to relax into the continence of your own musicianship.”
The presence of guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995, and bass player Phil Lesh, who died in October, was palpable throughout the evening. Lesh’s son Graham said pre-show his father had been excited when he learned about the band’s induction and “it was a great chance for the band to connect and revel in how much of an honor this was. It’s kind-of a big wow, what they accomplished.”
Graham Lesh was part of a stellar jam band that also included Don Was and Sturgill Simpson, backing four tunes that got some in the house up on their feet. Rogers and Leon Bridges dueted on “Fire on the Mountain,” Simpson sung “Ripple,” Matthews and Tedeschi grooved through “Sugaree,” and then all came together for show closer “Not Fade Away,” a nod to the band’s use of the Buddy Holly paean to enduring love to wrap countless shows.
Done+Dusted returned for a third year as executive producer, in association with ROK Productions. The special will air on Dec. 22 on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
Queen Latifah, who was a 2023 Kennedy Center Honors recipient, is set to host the 2024 ceremony, which will be taped on Sunday, Dec. 8, and will air on CBS two weeks later on Dec. 22. It is Latifah’s first time as host. She joins a short list of previous or future Kennedy Center Honorees […]
Last week, the Apollo theater in Harlem was selected as the first venue to receive a Kennedy Center Honor. The Apollo will receive a special award as an iconic American institution, right alongside the four individuals who are being honored — Bonnie Raitt; Grateful Dead; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.
The prestigious honors will be presented on Dec. 8 at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. CBS will broadcast the two-hour program on Dec. 23.
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“The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York City, nationally, and around the world, and launched the careers of legions of artists,” Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein said in a statement announcing the surprise selection.
This is a rare occasion that the Kennedy Center Honors has veered from its usual practice of honoring individuals. Six years ago, the program honored four key creators of the Broadway sensation Hamilton: An American Musical (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Andy Blankenbuehler). Five years ago, it honored the legendary children’s TV program Sesame Street (the award was presented to the show’s creators, Lloyd Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney).
It’s easy to see why the Kennedy Center chose the Apollo to receive this honor. For 90 years, The Apollo has been a beacon of the Harlem community; a platform for artists from the worlds of jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Artists who have played The Apollo’s famed Amateur Night include Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill and Miri Ben-Ari.
Now that The Apollo has gotten the nod, what other venues would you like the Kennedy Center Honors to consider for recognition? Here are 20 choices, in alphabetical order:
Which venue should the Kennedy Center Honors consider for recognition next?
This morning’s announcement that the Grateful Dead will receive the Kennedy Center Honors in December is the latest sign that that the Kennedy Center has finally gotten the memo – In music, sometimes people do their best and most lasting work in groups.
The Kennedy Center Honors was set up in 1978 to honor individuals. It wasn’t until 2008 that the Center recognized its first musical group: The Who. Before that, they had singled out the most famous member of a group or duo for honors – Paul Simon (2002), Tina Turner (2005), Smokey Robinson (2006), Diana Ross (2007) and Brian Wilson (2007).
Even after 2008, the Kennedy Center often opted to single out a member of a group rather than honor the entire group. The Beatles should certainly have been honored by the Kennedy Center, but the Center selected Paul McCartney for a solo honor in 2002. (McCartney was unable to attend that year due to a family commitment and was finally honored in 2010.)
Other group members who were honored as individuals instead of as part of the groups with which they first achieved fame are Carlos Santana (2013), Sting (2014), Mavis Staples (2016), Gloria Estefan (2017), Lionel Richie (2017), Cher (2018), Gladys Knight (2022) and Barry Gibb (2023). In some cases, it made more sense to honor the individuals. In other cases, it made less sense. Even Barry Gibb would doubtless say that his best and most lasting work was done in the Bee Gees alongside his brothers Robin and Maurice.
Both of Gibb’s brothers had died by 2023, and the Kennedy Center generally doesn’t honor people posthumously — though it made an exception for Glenn Frey, who had died by the time the Eagles were honored in December 2016. (He was alive when the group was selected in 2015. Miranda Lambert performed the Eagles classic “Desperado” on the 2015 show as a mini-tribute.)
The rule about not honoring group members posthumously needs review. To honor Earth, Wind & Fire, as the Kennedy Center did in 2016, without honoring its mastermind Maurice White is hard to fathom. Likewise, to honor Grateful Dead without recognizing its principal songwriter and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia just seems off.
This year’s other honorees are Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval; filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; and the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, which is the first venue to be honored.
Here’s a complete list of the groups that have been received Kennedy Center Honors, together with the dates they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that they received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy.
The Who (2008)
Image Credit: Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images
The 2024 Kennedy Center Honors will feature a mix of the psychedelic and the soulful with a touch of jazz. The John F. Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts announced the selections for this year’s 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements on Thursday (July 18), a list that includes director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather), jam godfathers the Grateful Dead, blues singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt, jazz trumpeter/pianist/composer Arturo Sandoval and, in a first, The Apollo theater in Harlem in a special honor as an iconic American Institution.
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“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes artists who have made an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of our nation and continue to have an immeasurable influence on new generations,” said Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein in a statement about the event that will take place in Washington, D.C. on December 8 and air on CBS (and later stream on Paramount+).
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Rubenstein continued, ““A brilliant and masterful storyteller with an unrelenting innovative spirit, Francis Ford Coppola’s films have become embedded in the very idea of American culture; a social and cultural phenomenon since 1965, the Grateful Dead’s music has never stopped being a true American original, while inspiring a fan culture like no other; Bonnie Raitt has made us love her again and again with her inimitable voice, slide guitar, and endless musical range encompassing blues, R&B, country rock, and folk; ‘an ambassador of both music and humanity,’Arturo Sandoval transcended literal borders coming from Cuba 30-plus years ago and today continues to bridge cultures with his intoxicating blend of Afro Cuban rhythms and modern jazz; and on its 90th anniversary, The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York City, nationally, and around the world, and launched the careers of legions of artists.”
The Kennedy Center Honors celebrates individuals whose unique contributions to American arts and culture at an event where the the honorees are seated in the box tier of the Kennedy Center Opera House while their peers pay homage with performances and tributes.
In a statement, Raitt said, “I am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honoring others. There is no higher level of esteem nor as delightful a celebration and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all who have chosen me to receive this honor. I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my life’s peak experiences.”
The Dead’s living members — Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bobby Weir — were equally effusive in their excitement about receiving one of the nation’s highest artistic honors. “It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement,” they wrote in a joint statement. “To be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honor is beyond humbling. The Grateful Dead has always been about community, creativity, and exploration in music and presentation. We’ve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played — and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do — so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours.”
They continued, “From our earliest days in San Francisco and as far as our tours have taken us, it has been and still is an incredible ride. We’ve had the opportunity to play with many talented musicians, interact with many gifted people—and to be part of something much larger than ourselves. Our music has always been about exploration and breaking through or finding our way around barriers, not just musically but also in bringing people together. The energy, the love, the connection and sharing — once again, that’s what it’s all about. As we enter our 60th year of the Grateful Dead’s journey in 2025, we’re beyond grateful for this recognition and for the journey we are on together. This honor reminds us of all those moments and the people who helped us along the way. Thank you, Kennedy Center, and to all the folks who had a hand in bringing us here, for this incredible honor.”
Sandoval, too, said he was “profoundly humbled and deeply honored” to be selected as a recipient of the prestigious award. “This recognition is an extraordinary milestone in my career and a testament to the support and encouragement I have received from my family, friends, colleagues, and fans,” said Sandoval. “Throughout my journey, I have strived to create, perform, and inspire with passion and integrity. Being acknowledged by such an esteemed institution validates my efforts and motivates me to continue pushing the boundaries of my art. I am incredibly grateful to the Kennedy Center for this honor, and I look forward to contributing further to the vibrant cultural tapestry that the Center celebrates and nurtures. Thank you once again for this incredible honor.”
Michelle Ebanks, president/CEO of Harlem’s legendary Apollo — which over its long history has hosted everyone from Josephine Baker and Count Basie to James Brown, B.B. King, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke and Michael Jackson , among many others — also said her organization was elated by the first-time honor for an institution.
“We are thrilled to be the first organization honored in the history of the Kennedy Center Awards, emphasizing The Apollo’s impact on the past, present, and future of American culture and the performing arts,” Ebanks said. “From the longest-running talent show in America with Amateur Night at The Apollo, which launched the careers of icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Lauryn Hill, to performances from beloved legends like Smokey Robinson and Lil’ Kim and today’s biggest stars like Drake, The Apollo has always been a home for artists to create and a home for audiences to see incredible music and art from legendary artists.”
Last year’s honorees included Queen Latifah, Dionne Warwick, the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, comedian Billy Crystal and soprano Renée Fleming.
To learn more about this year’s honorees click here.
It was a night of high notes at the Kennedy Center Honors, and not only because Sir Barry Gibb —and his signature falsetto — was inducted into the 2023 class along with Dionne Warwick, Queen Latifah, acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming and Billy Crystal.
Now in its 46th iteration, the Honors has steadily been morphing from a staid affair to a full-scale entertainment spectacle befitting the nation’s highest honor bestowed for artistic achievement. This year’s gala, held Sunday (Dec. 3) with President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and a host of DC power players in the house, packed dazzle and dignity — and plenty of star power.
Host and 2017 honoree Gloria Estefan, as well as Michael Bublé, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Robert De Niro, Sheila E, Missy Elliott, Cynthia Erivo, Whoopi Goldberg, Gladys Knight, Jay Leno, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rita Moreno, Ego Nwodim, Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan and Kerry Washington were among those who took the stage to fete the night’s guests of honor.
Gibb, 77, is one of the most prolific songwriters in history. He has written or co-written hundreds of songs, many alongside brothers Robin and Maurice as hitmaking machine the Bee Gees, whose songbook defined both disco and reinvention. Gibb penned the title track of the film Grease, performed by Frankie Valli; and together with the Bee Gees wrote the 1983 crossover smash “Islands in the Stream,” which Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers took to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The eldest and last living member of the family brotherhood, Gibb said before the show that he felt the presence of his siblings as he prepared to take his seat in the balcony of the opera house. “It’s very emotional; there’s something going on in the air and you just feel it,” he said of feeling the presence of late brothers Robin, Maurice and Andy Gibb.
Also emotional pre-show was Bublé, who described how Gibb jump-started his career 20 years ago by dueting with him on Bublé’s first album on one of his own songs. “I was working with producer David Foster and David said, ‘We have no heat, we need a duet.’ And no matter who we sent ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’ to, we couldn’t get someone to duet.” Foster got Buble’s version of the song to Gibb, “and two days later my first duet was with Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees, and it changed my life,” Bublé said.
Bublé performed the track during Gibb’s tribute, which also included a compelling version of “Lonely Days” by Little Big Town, who collaborated with Gibb on his 2021 album Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1,; a fittingly theatrical version of “Nights on Broadway” by Ben Platt; and a disco-infused medley featuring DeBose accompanied on piano by Chloe Flower that was the perfect crescendo to close out the night in a swirl of confetti.
Gibb’s son Stephen Gibb gave a heartfelt homage, noting, “My father somehow was gifted with a heart-focused, supernatural ability to express himself in song, which has allowed him to connect with people on such a mass level.”
Clive Davis was on hand to praise Warwick, 82, who counts the Bee Gees-penned “Heartbreaker” among her 56 charted hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and a reported 100 million records sold. He recounted the phenomenon of Warwick’s early partnership with Burt Bacharach and Hal David and the legacy that led her to win Grammys for their songs “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” She has since won three more Grammys plus a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy.
“There simply is no song that Dionne Warwick cannot sing,” Davis said. “The lexicon of her hits is as great and as deep as any artist who has ever recorded.”
After 2020 Kennedy Center honoree Debbie Allen and 2013 honoree Herbie Hancock bestowed accolades for Warwick’s humanitarian activism, including her collaboration with Elton John, Knight and Stevie Wonder on “That’s What Friends Are For” — the 1985 hit and first recording dedicated to raising AIDS awareness — the musical tributes started to flow.
Mickey Guyton and The Spinners delivered a smooth and spirited rendition of “Then Came You”; Erivo manifested a soaring “Alfie,” which brought Warwick to tears; and Knight offered up a perfectly punctuated version of “I Say a Little Prayer.”
Before her time on stage, Saturday Night Live cast member Nwodim gushed about her experience portraying Warwick, alongside the real Warwick, in a now-storied sketch. “Her embrace of the impression and then publicly celebrating it was really special to me,” she said. “I am eternally grateful to her for that.”
Latifah, 53, is the first female rapper to receive Honors, and Moreno and Washington dove deep into the reasons why during their tributes, before an assembly of rap and hip-hop heavyweights —including Monie Love, MC Lyte, D-Nice, Yo-Yo and Rapsody — cranked up the volume with a medley including Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” and “Ladies First.”
As one of the artists to pay tribute to LL Cool J when he became the first hip-hop artist to receive Honors, Latifah told Billboard pre-show she was embracing her moment. “It’s trippy to be here for myself tonight,” she said. “I feel very honored. I’m very, very humbled. Being honored the same year as hip-hop’s 50th anniversary? “Icing on the cake.”
Latifah recently inducted Missy Elliott into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Elliott returned the favor with an intimate tribute that brought both laughs and knowing nods. By crowning herself Queen, Elliott said, Latifah is saying, “People will respect me, I will be a leader, I will be a provider, I will be an inspiration to many. I will be the blueprint to success. I don’t set the bar, I am the bar.”
Crystal, 75, joins an elite group of comedy performers — including David Letterman, Steve Martin and Carol Burnett — to be bestowed with both the Kennedy Center Honor and the Center’s Mark Twain Prize, which he received in 2007.
He was feeling patriotic when Billboard caught up with him before the show. Describing his experience at the dinner hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken the night before, he said, “Secretary Blinken had just flown in from Tel Aviv, he landed at 5 a.m. and in the middle of this horrendous situation, he hosts us, makes a brilliant speech about the arts… and then they put [the lanyard] on us. It’s spectacular. This is our country. This is who we are, and more people should feel that and be positive about America. This isn’t an awards show. This is about appreciation for the soul of our artistic community, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Rob Reiner, in town to celebrate his friend whom he directed in The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally… (and This Is Spinal Tap, if you count that one line), noted on the red carpet, “The guy is a great comedian and he’s also not afraid to show his feelings, and that’s a rare combination.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda realized a different kind of dream. “I’ve been dreaming of doing an Oscar-style tribute to Billy Crystal since I was 10,” he said of the nine-time Academy Awards host before launching into the perfect Crystal-esque number, complete with song and dance.
Ryan reminisced about that fateful scene from When Harry Met Sally… —“I’ve never been around anyone who makes faking an orgasm easier”— Goldberg recalled the early days of Comic Relief working with Crystal and the late, great Robin Williams (whose absence was deeply felt). “We were constantly being reminded to behave ourselves, which we did not,” she said, while Bob Costas honored their shared love of baseball and the Yankees. Between dropping “f” bombs, De Niro dropped some priceless jokes.
“I had no idea you’d won so much,” he said to Crystal. “And you’ve done it all in such a relatively short amount of time. You’re only 71. That means you’re just about six years away from bring the perfect age to be elected President,” he snarked, right in front of 81-year-old President Biden.
Fleming, 64, is one of the most prominent sopranos of our time, and her tribute showcased the breadth of her influence. She was the first opera singer to perform the National Anthem at a Super Bowl, in 2014. She also launched the first ongoing collaboration between the Kennedy Center and the National Institutes of Health.
Presenters included Christine Baranski, a fellow Juilliard alum, who reminded the audience that Fleming once sang the top 10 on list on David Letterman’s late-night show, and Titus Burgess, who demonstrated some serious pipes.
Dove Cameron, who appeared alongside Fleming in the musical The Light in the Piazza, shared, “I was never not astounded by the quality of human Renee is,” Cameron said before showcasing her own musical chops performing the title track from that show.
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors special was again produced by Done+Dusted, in association with ROK Productions. The special will air Wednesday, Dec. 27 on CBS and stream live and on demand on the CBS app and Paramount+.
In the span of four minutes, Sacha Baron Cohen hilariously scorched Kanye West, honored U2, dissed Donald Trump, made President Joe Biden laugh and played himself out on a keytar, all in character as his beloved Borat persona. It all went down Dec. 4 at the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors event, and on Thursday (Dec. 29), the arts organization shared a video of the moment so that everyone who wasn’t in attendance can see — and laugh — for themselves.
In the video, Baron Cohen steps out onstage dressed in Borat’s signature suit and bushy mustache, greeting a crowd that also included honorees George Clooney, Amy Grant and Gladys Knight. The comedian — who is Jewish — was there to help celebrate U2, also one of the night’s honorees, but it didn’t take long for him to get topical with his speech.
“I must say I’m very upset about the antisemitism in U.S. and A,” he said. “It’s not fair. Kazakhstan is No. 1 Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby!”
Of course, antisemitism has been thrust into the center of public discussion in the past couple months thanks in particular to Kanye West (who now goes by Ye). The rapper has been banned by several social media platforms and has been dropped from his deals with major brands — losing his billionaire status in the process — because of his repeated use of hate speech online and in interviews attacking Jewish people.
“Your Kanye, he tried to move to Kazakhstan and he even changed his name to Kazakhstan-ye West,” Baron Cohen continued, his Borat character a fictional journalist from the real country Kazakhstan. “We said no, he too antisemitic even for us.”
Baron Cohen also saved a little heat for the guys of U2, making a dig at their infamous partnership with Apple that involved the band’s 2014 album, Songs of Innocence, being automatically downloaded onto iTunes users’ personal devices, angering many. He also performed his own Borat-ified cover of one of the band’s biggest hits, “With or Without You,” earning uncomfortable laughs from the audience by replacing the word “you” with “Jews.”
“What the problem? They loved this at Mar-a-Lago,” he quipped, referencing Donald Trump’s current residence before performing a spirited solo on his keytar.
Watch Borat’s Kennedy Center Honors speech above. Want to check out the entire event? Here’s how you can stream it.
There is nothing funny about Kanye West‘s repeated amplification of antisemitic tropes and hate speech over the past month. In a series of interviews and media appearances, the artist who now goes by Ye has made a series of comments denigrating the Jewish people, culminating last week with an appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ show in which Ye stated “I like Hitler.”
But if there is one person who has the unique ability to transform hate into hilarity, it is Sacha Baron Cohen. The acclaimed comedian — who is Jewish — appeared at this weekend’s Kennedy Center Honors in the guise of his belovedly profane, offensive-to-everyone dopey journalist character Borat Sagdiyev to pay tribute to honorees U2.
Kazakhstan’s least reliable source of news took the stage and expressed genuine confusion that President Biden is the current White House resident. “I know the president of U.S. and A is here. Where are you, Mr. Trump?” Borat asked according to a transcript of the appearance from The Guardian.
“You don’t look so good,” Borat said to Biden. “Where has your glorious big belly gone? And your pretty orange skin has become pale… But I see you have a new wife. Wawa-woooah! She is very erotic. I must look away before I get a Bono.”
But the sharpest barbs from the comedian whose work skewers hate and intolerance with even more absurdly hateful, intolerant punchlines that shine a sharp satiric light on xenophobic and homophobic hate speech went all-in on Ye in the wake of the rapper’s latest exile from Twitter for posting an image of a swastika last week.
“Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the antisemitism in US and A. It not fair,” Borat said. “Kazakhstan is No 1 Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby. Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Your Kanye, he tried to move to Kazakhstan and even changed his name to Kazakhstan-Ye West. But we said: ‘No, he too antisemitic, even for us.’”
In a classic Borat bit, Cohen then sang a brief parody of U2’s “Without or Without You,” with the lyrics switched up to “With or Without Jews,” as titters erupted in the crowd and he asked, “What’s the problem? They loved this at Mar-a-Lago. They chose Without Jews.”
West, who does not appear to be promoting any projects at the moment, has been on a month-long media tour of right-wing media outlets in which he has unashamedly denigrated the Jewish people while also praising the murderous Nazi regime. The disgraced MC whose once-massive music and fashion portfolio has gone into free-fall since he began spouting antisemitic and racist statements continued his bizarre hate tour on his Instagram feed on Sunday when he made what was couched as a joke about Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s ethnic heritage.
“Am I the only one who thinks Elon could be half-Chinese?,” West asked. “Have you ever seen his pics as a child?” Musk was born in South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father and it was unclear what West was referring to in questioning the billionaire Space X/Tesla founder’s ethnicity.
Without mentioning Ye by name, President Biden issued a pointed statement on the dangers of antisemitism and the embrace of Nazis on Friday in the wake of West’s Hitler praise on Jones’ show. “I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,” Biden tweeted in a statement. “And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.”
The strongly worded statement from Biden starkly contrasted with the recent scene at Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort, where the twice-impeached president hosted Ye as well as far right activist and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who is also known for spewing antisemitic rhetoric. Also present at the lunch that Trump hosted on the high-visibility patio at his golf club was Ye’s apparent 2024 presidential campaign manager — who has reportedly since been fired — professional right-wing troll Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been blocked from most major social media platforms for his slurs against Islam and feminism, and his embrace of antisemitic figures.
West’s doubling and tripling-down on hate speech comes just months after the Anti-Defamation League — which tracks anti-Semitic behavior nationwide — reported a 34% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2021 (to 2,717), which averaged out to more than seven such incidents per day.