Trump Says He Was ‘98% Involved’ in Picking Kennedy Center Honorees — And He Rejected ‘Wokesters’
President Donald Trump made clear he was the main driving force behind this year’s Kennedy Center honorees, answering a reporter’s question by saying he was “98% involved” in the selection process.
Trump announced the latest honorees Wednesday in a press conference at the Kennedy Center, naming actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, musician George Strait, original star of Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera Michael Crawford, singer Gloria Gaynor, and the rock band KISS.
After his remarks, the president took questions from gathered members of the media. “How involved were you in the selection process of these honorees?” asked one reporter.
Replied Trump:
I would say I was about 98% involved. No, they all went through me. They came over Rick [Grenell] and Sergio [Gor] and everybody. They said — I turned down plenty. They were too woke. I turned — I had a couple of wokesters. Uh, no.
We have great people. This is very different than it used to be. Very different. These are great people. And, not — they’re not — I don’t have any idea the Republicans, they want people that — the Kennedy Center has everything.
Look at the Academy Awards. It gets lousy ratings now. It’s all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump, but nobody likes that. They don’t watch anymore. That used to have 45 million people watching.
I remember The Apprentice, first season, The Apprentice had 42 million people. The Academy Awards had 41 million people. We were the second show to the Super Bowl. But since then, the Academy Awards have gone down to — I think they’ve gone down to numbers that are like a regular show, because it went woke.
We’re not, we’re not doing it for that reason. We’re doing it because we want the great talent. But these are great people. So, I was very — I was just — a very long answer, but I was very involved.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
