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The Kennedy Center Honors returns to tradition this year.
The Lifetime Achievement Awards for artistic excellence will be presented in a gala in the main opera house of the Kennedy Center on Sunday evening after the coronavirus pandemic caused delays and major changes to last year’s plans.
Prize winners include Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, Saturday Night Live mastermind Lorne Michaels, actress-singer Bette Midler, opera singer Justino Diaz and folk music legend Joni Mitchell.
This year’s event also marks a return to political normality with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attending. The Democrat will be the first president to serve in the Kennedy Center Honors since 2016.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump skipped the show for the first three years of his tenure after several of the 2017 honored artists threatened to boycott a reception at the White House if the Republican attended, his first year in office.
The Trumps have also canceled a traditional White House ceremony for the honorees, which Biden resumed with a lighthearted holiday gathering on Sunday afternoon.
“We welcome everyone,” he said to a crowd of about 150 in the East Room, which was decorated with Christmas trees and wreaths. Guests included Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chita Rivera, Steve Martin and Herbie Hancock.
“You have made our nation stronger, more dynamic and more alive,” Biden told the award winners.
Praising the artists’ work, their “sixth sense” in helping them create and move so many people, Biden said, “I don’t think you really appreciate what you do for so many people.”
He spoke of Diaz’s “Sound of Soul”, Gordon’s founding of “one of the most iconic companies” in American history. He joked with Michaels, “It’s finally my turn to say something about you,” and made fun of Michaels’ SNL show, which routinely mocks presidents, including the current commander in chief.
“You often make me laugh at myself,” joked Biden, adding that Michaels was auditioning actor to play him next at SNL. Biden asked Steve Martin to stand as an example of the kind of talent Michaels has cultivated over the past few decades.
Martin paused and asked the President, “Shall I play you?” The crowd burst out laughing.
Biden then expressed admiration for Mitchell and Midler, telling Midler that “people will never forget how you feel about them. This is your gift, it’s unbelievable. “
And finally: “Joanie. Your words and melodies touch the deepest parts of our soul, “said Biden.
Last year, the pandemic forced organizers to postpone the annual December ceremony to May 2021. The tributes to the artists were filmed over several nights and in several locations on campus.
The main change this year related to COVID was to move the annual Saturday ceremony, where honorees receive their medallions on rainbow-colored ribbons, to the Library of Congress instead of the State Department.
The Sunday ceremony, which will air on December 22nd on CBS, is the centerpiece of the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary of cultural programming. The center opened in 1971.
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