Kennedy Center Honors
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U2 was in the house, and so were George Clooney, Gladys Knight, Amy Grant and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and conductor Tania Leon. To say expectations were high for Sunday night’s (Dec. 6) 45th iteration of the Kennedy Center Honors would be an understatement.
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And they were largely, if unevenly, met at the star-studded event attended by President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was accompanied by her husband Paul Pelosi, donning a hat and glove on one hand, who made his first public appearance since being beaten in October in their San Francisco home.
Knight had performed for 2020 honoree Garth Brooks, who hosted this year’s State Department dinner the preceding night where the honorees received their medallions, and he returned the courtesy by performing her hit “Midnight Train to Georgia,” while schooling the audience on the song’s country roots.
Ariana DeBose talked about how she listened to Knight’s music growing up in North Carolina before launching into “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” And a teary-eyed Patti LaBelle honored her “sister-friend” with stories of their personal and professional bond through six decades before launching into “That’s What Friends Are For.”
LL Cool J had high praise for one of his musical heroes. “Like stars in the night’s sky, Gladys Knight illuminates everyone in her orbit,” he said, adding, “I once heard Gladys sing the ABCs and I thought I was in church.”
On the red carpet before the show, Knight was all smiles about getting to spend time with the current President. ”I feel like he’s my brother. We go back, and he has such a tender heart,” she said.
Julia Roberts set the stage for the Clooney tribute wearing a gown embellished with photos of her longtime friend. After doing a bit of good-natured roasting she applauded him for being “profoundly present and attentive to the world outside of himself” and calling Clooney “the best combination of a gentleman and a playmate.”
The roasting continued with Richard Kind declaring “we could solve world problems if everyone could agree” the way they do about Clooney’s failed run as the Dark Knight in 1997’s “Batman & Robin,” and Matt Damon sharing that Clooney once dedicated in Kind’s kitty litter box and stole stationery from then-President Bill Clinton and wrote notes to fellow actors on it.
But there was plenty of focus on Clooney’s humanitarian efforts, which began at a very young age. His father, Nick Clooney, shared a story about how a 7-year-old George gave up all his toy guns because he was so heartbroken after Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Don Cheadle spoke about his efforts working with Clooney to help the people of Sudan’s Darfur region and how the two recently co-founded a school.
Asked before the show whether being in D.C. had made him reconsider a once-rumored second career in politics, Clooney turned to his wife Amal and said, “Nah. We have a very nice life.”
Cuba-born Leon, who won the Pulitzer Prize for composing the orchestral work “Stride” that was inspired by the activism of Susan B. Anthony, was feted by pianist, producer and composer Chloe Flower and the Kennedy Center’s artistic director for jazz Jason Moran, among others.
Speaking before the show, Leon said she was inspired by the opportunity to be in the White House, which she’d never visited as a tourist. “All this is going to hit me. After I get home and I settle in and have a little bit of tea, I know this is going to do something to me,” she said.
Grant is the first contemporary Christian artist to be bestowed a rainbow lanyard. Outspoken in her support for the LGBTQ+ community, she’s been pushing musical and cultural boundaries for decades. Of her guiding principle, she told Billboard, “My mother said to me, and what I say to my children, ‘You have to wrap your arms around your own life, and no one can hear your heart but you.’ “
Her segment focused on her dedication to faith and family. Katie Couric called her “the perfect elixir for troubled minds and troubled souls.” Sheryl Crow noted, “Amy taught me it’s possible to be funny, irreverent and Christian at the same time” before breaking into a rendition of Grant’s No. 1 hit “Baby Baby,” which, it turns out, Grant was inspired to write when one of her daughters was an infant.
Gospel duo BeBe & CeCe Winans lent their soaring vocals to a medley of Grant tunes, as did all of the Highwomen—Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires.
Speaking with Billboard pre-show, Carlile talked about how moved she was being able to perform for both Grant and U2 at the show.
“The thing about those two that touches me the most deeply is that they play out their music, their ambassadorship, their philanthropy through a faith-based lens, really the Christian faith, right on their sleeve, which is a difficult subject for me and people like me,” she said.
“We’ve all been a little bit marginalized by that faith and for some of us it’s a source of a lot of trauma. And so the way that U2 and Amy Grant have really come out and publicly supported LGBTQIA people, it’s been really healing and life-affirming for a lot of us. So it’s the least I can do to be here tonight.”
Which brings us to the show-closing tribute to U2 members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. Credit to Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who in prime Vedder form poured his all into “Elevation” and “One,” the latter of which was a last-minute addition after Mary J Blige had to bow out due to illness.
Just as things were picking up momentum and it seemed the audience may be ready to rise from their seats for some dancing, Sacha Baron Cohen appeared on stage in character as his alter-ego Borat Sagdiyev, the dimwitted journalist from Kazakhstan.
Yes, any time Borat shows up you can expect it to get weird and yes, he was hysterical, riffing on everything from his confusion that President Trump was no longer in office to Kanye West’s recent fall from grace: “He even tried to move to Kazakhstan, and he even changed his name to Kazakhstan-ye West. But we said no, he’s too antisemitic even for us.”
But his banter had very little to do with U2 and seemed an odd way to use the band’s allotted time. When Carlile came back out, joined by Hozier, to perform a rendition of “Walk On,” it felt like a bit of a rushed finale when many of the night’s previous performers appeared back on stage.
This is, after all, U2, one of the most celebrated rock bands of all time with 22 Grammys and 170 million albums sold worldwide. To not have included more music, no songs from their defining 1987 album The Joshua Tree, no crescendo’ing anthems, just seemed like a miss.
The 2022 Kennedy Center Honors will air Wednesday, December 28 at 8pm on CBS and stream on sister network Paramount+.
UPDATE (Nov. 17): The 45th annual Kennedy Center Honors have an air date: Wednesday, Dec. 28 (8-10 p.m ET/PT) on CBS. Paramount+ Premium subscribers will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service as well as on demand. Essential-tier subscribers will have access to on-demand the day after the special airs. As previously announced, the show will tape on Sunday, Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C.
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PREVIOUSLY (July 21): U2, Gladys Knight, Amy Grant, actor-director George Clooney and Cuban-born composer, conductor and educator Tania León are the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors recipients.
The 45th edition of the prestigious awards, presented for lifetime artistic achievements, will be held on Sunday, Dec. 4, on the Opera House stage at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Honors Gala will be recorded for broadcast on CBS at a later date as a two-hour prime-time special and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
U2 is the fifth band to receive the honor, following The Who (2008), Led Zeppelin (2012), Eagles (2016) and Earth, Wind & Fire (2019). Before 2008, the Kennedy Center Honors focused entirely on individuals. Brian Wilson was honored rather The Beach Boys, for example. U2 consists of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.
Knight is the fifth Motown Records alumnus to receive the honor, following Stevie Wonder (1999), Smokey Robinson (2006), Diana Ross (2007) and Lionel Richie (2017). Last year, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. was saluted. Gladys Knight & the Pips had a long string of hits on Motown, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).”
Knight has won seven Grammys; impressively, in three different musical fields – pop, R&B and gospel. At the 1973 Grammys, Knight & the Pips became the first group to win in both pop (for “Neither One of Us”) and R&B (for the immortal “Midnight Train to Georgia,” one of the most classic recordings of the past half-century).
U2 has won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other group in history. Their Grammy haul includes two wins each for album of the year (The Joshua Tree and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb), record of the year (“Beautiful Day” and “Walk On”) and song of the year (“Beautiful Day” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”).
Grant has won six Grammys – all in the gospel field. Her most recent Grammy was best Southern, country or bluegrass gospel album for Rock of Ages…Hymns & Faith in 2005. Grant was nominated for album, record and song of the year at the 1991 Grammys for her smash “Baby Baby,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and her album Heart in Motion, which made the top 10 on the Billboard 200.
Grant is among the very few gospel honorees in Kennedy Center Honors history. Marion Williams was a 1993 honoree.
León received a 2012 Grammy nomination for best contemporary classical composition for Inura for Voices, Strings and Percussion.
Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. U2 were inducted in 2005.
Clooney is a two-time Oscar winner – best supporting actor for Syriana (2005) and best picture for co-producing Argo (2012). He has also been nominated for directing and writing Oscars. He received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2010 Emmy Awards. Clooney’s dozens of films include O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The soundtrack to that film topped the Billboard 200 in March 2002, after winning the Grammy for album of the year.
Grant’s husband, Vince Gill, has yet to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, but very well may someday. Such peers as Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire have been honored. Clooney’s aunt, the great pop and jazz singer Rosemary Clooney, was not chosen as an honoree. These awards are not presented posthumously, so there is no chance that she will be.
The 45th Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a dinner in the Grand Foyer.
The Honors recipients are recognized for their contributions to American culture through the performing arts—whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television—and are confirmed by the executive committee of the Center’s board of trustees.
Deborah F. Rutter, Kennedy Center president, noted: “For nearly a half-century, the Kennedy Center Honors has represented the very best of America’s creative culture. The Honors is often referred to by past recipients as the pinnacle of awards because it recognizes not just one performance, album, or film, but esteems an artist’s cumulative body of work and influence over many decades…”
Done+Dusted, producers of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize since 2018, have been selected as executive producers of the 45th annual Kennedy Center Honors. Done+Dusted will produce the show in association with ROK Productions, represented by Elizabeth Kelly, who will executive produce alongside David Jammy and Ian Stewart. The show will be directed by Alex Rudzinski.
Here are complete and unabridged statements from each of the 45th Kennedy Center Honorees:
“Growing up in a small town in Kentucky I could never have imagined that someday I’d be the one sitting in the balcony at the Kennedy Center Honors. To be mentioned in the same breath with the rest of these incredible artists is an honor. This is a genuinely exciting surprise for the whole Clooney family.” –George Clooney
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine ever receiving this prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. Through the years, I’ve watched so many of my heroes serenaded by colleagues and fellow artists, always moved by the ability of music and film to bring us together and to see the best in each other. I cannot wait to celebrate with my fellow honorees, friends, and family. Thank you for widening the circle to include all of us.” –Amy Grant
“I’m humbled beyond words to be included amongst this prestigious group of individuals, both past and present. You could never have told me as a young girl starting my career that I would be honored on a stage such as this, with artists and humanitarians such as these—it just wouldn’t have seemed possible. It would have been the dream of all dreams. I have been blessed with so much in my life and this certainly stands with those achievements at the top of that list. To be honored as a Kennedy Center Honoree is among the highlights of my career. I stand here with my fans, my family, my friends, my team, and my faith in accepting such an amazing distinction. It is dedicated to all those who paved the path for me to be able to accomplish the wonderful blessings I’ve been able to receive. The Kennedy Center’s commitment to the arts is unparalleled and I am so very grateful for this moment.” –Gladys Knight
“Little did I imagine when studying in La Habana that life was going to grace me with such a distinction! My first thoughts went to my ancestors: they believed in my dreams, and what we lacked in material wealth, they made up for in spirit, encouragement, and support. My heartfelt thanks go to the many people who have blessed my path by helping my talent to blossom and by giving me the chance to be heard. I am incredibly humbled to join such a prestigious family of artists, and deeply grateful to the Kennedy Center for bestowing me with this incredible honor.” –Tania León
“In December 1980, we made our first trip across the Atlantic to America. Our first show was at The Ritz in New York City, the second, The Bayou in D.C. We had big dreams then, fueled in part by the commonly held belief at home that America smiles on Ireland. And it turned out to be true, yet again. But even in the wilder thoughts, we never imagined that 40 years on, we would be invited back to receive one of the nation’s greatest honours…It has been a four-decade love affair with the country and its people, its artists, and culture. We consider America to be a home away from home and we are very grateful to the Kennedy Center Honors for welcoming us into this great clan of extraordinary artists.” –U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.)
For ticket inquiries, visit kennedy-center.org/honorsinfo or email Honors@kennedy-center.org.