Trump return to DC looms over Kennedy Center Honors

By Judy Kurtz

In a night filled with political moments — including multiple nods to President Biden, a Grateful Dead tribute from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and accolades for performers-turned-activists — there was scant mention at the Kennedy Center Honors of President-elect Trump’s return to office and what it could mean for the annual awards gala.

The 47th-annual Honors ceremony recognized four artists and an organization with its lifetime achievement award on Sunday in Washington, D.C.: singer Bonnie Raitt, trumpet player Arturo Sandoval, director Francis Ford Coppola, Harlem’s Apollo Theater and the Grateful Dead.

The ceremony, attended by President Biden, kicked off by honoring the commander in chief’s “service to the nation with a special performance” of the national anthem. Shortly after the packed crowd inside the Kennedy Center stood for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a member of the audience shouted, “We love you, Joe!”

As Queen Latifah, the night’s emcee, took to the stage, the rapper and actor said, “I was born in Newark, N.J., in 1970 in the midst of political turmoil in a nation reeling from crisis after crisis. You could say it was a heavy time for our country — though maybe looking around it feels a little bit like right now.”

It was one of several subtle references to the current political climate throughout the Honors ceremony, airing Dec. 22 on CBS.

While lauding Raitt, both Jackson Browne and “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus acknowledged the “Something To Talk About” singer’s activism and involvement in social justice and environmental causes.

Browne said he and Raitt have “always been aligned politically.” The 75-year-old performer, he said, is the “best example of an activist because clearly she has more fun than anyone.”

Louis-Dreyfus, a prominent celebrity supporter of Vice President Harris during this year’s White House race, said, “Music and protest have always been a part of Bonnie Raitt. … To this day, Bonnie calls herself an ‘activist musician.’”“I love that,” Louis-Dreyfus added.

When he was in office, Trump bucked tradition and declined to attend the Honors event after several of the award’s recipients criticized him.

Without referencing Trump, Kennedy Center Chair David Rubenstein saluted Biden, saying, “There’s no law that requires the president of the United States to host the Kennedy Center Honors at the White House or to attend this.”

“But for four years,” Rubenstein said, the president and Jill Biden “have been gracious hosts to us and have attended the Kennedy Center Honors.”

After Rubenstein thanked Biden for his “50 years of service” to the country, the audience gave the president another standing ovation.

David Letterman seemingly made a reference to Trump’s return to the Oval Office while appearing as part of a tribute to the Grateful Dead.

“I was talking to the people backstage, and they’re going to try and get as many of these Honors in place now, before the inauguration,” the former late-night TV host quipped. “I think that’s a good thing.”

Asked if Trump being back at the White House would change anything for the Honors, Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center’s president, told ITK, “Each new president brings a new perspective.”

“The Trump era, we had a really good dialogue with the White House. And now with the Bidens, it’s very different because they’ve been in Washington so long; this is like their living room in a way,” Rutter added.

“As soon as he’s in office, we’ll extend an invitation to welcome him to the Kennedy Center,” Rutter said of Trump.

Some of the night’s Honorees didn’t shy away from political talk on the red carpet ahead of the ceremony.

Asked her approach to the next four years, Raitt — who said in 2017 that the world had gotten “more scary and depressing” under Trump than she “ever even expected” — told ITK, “Just keep busy and keep working for the good stuff.”

“I think we should just fight for what we believe in and put our music to work helping people who have less access to the services we all take for granted,” Raitt said.

Coppola, who’s referred to his movies, such as “Apocalypse Now” and “Megalopolis,” as “prescient,” revealed his prediction following last month’s presidential election: “There’s going to be a crisis in the world that draws people together to say, ‘It’s time to talk about the future.’”

“It’s time to get serious and talk about the future and to be able to ask any question, because we have to know if the society we’re living in is the only one available to us,” the acclaimed director continued.

“And if not, what can we do to improve it — which is possible, but we have to be able to ask that question,” Coppola, 85, said.

Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart spoke to the bipartisan appeal of the legendary band, which reportedly counts everyone from former President Clinton to Tucker Carlson among its fanbase.

“Music doesn’t know Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, Black or white,” Hart said. “Everybody’s equal in music.”

Pelosi appeared in a video tribute to the Grateful Dead shown during the Honors ceremony.

“The fandom is about music. It’s also about the being there. It’s just something magical,” Pelosi said.

Would Pelosi consider herself a deadhead?

“Oh yeah,” Pelosi, 84, told ITK. The longtime lawmaker described discovering an old pocketbook a few years ago.

“You take a purse down from your closet and think you haven’t seen this in awhile, and then it was a button that said, ‘Deadheads for Dukakis.’ That was 1988!” Pelosi exclaimed.