The 45th Annual “Kennedy Center Honors” Airs Tonight On CBS

In an annual tradition since 1978, five new performing arts icons will be honored for their contributions to American culture on The Kennedy Center Honors. Taped at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C. on December 4 and airing tonight at 8 p.m. ET on CBS (and also available to stream on Paramount+), this year’s honorees are the singer Gladys Knight; the actor and filmmaker George Clooney; the rock band U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr); the singer-songwriter Amy Grant; and the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León.

Specifically, honors recipients are recognized for their contributions to American culture through the performing arts (music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures or television) and are confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Center’s Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence.

Following an introduction by former honorees Chita Rivera, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock, LL Cool J, Michael Tilson Thomas, Carmen de Lavallade and Big Bird, the two-hour event will feature performances by Brooks, Brandi Carlile and the Highwomen, Ariana DeBose, Sheryl Crow, Mickey Guyton, Hozier, Patti LaBelle, Dianne Reeves, Eddie Vedder, and BeBe and CeCe Winans, among others.

President and Mrs. Joe Biden were also in attendance.

To whet your appetite for the always prestigious festivities, here are factoids you may not know about past recipients of The Kennedy Center Honors:

-Four-time Academy Award winner Katharine Hepburn declined the committee’s first offer, but she relented in 1990.

-Doris Day repeatedly turned down the honor because her fear of flying prevented her from attending the ceremony in Washington, D.C.

-Paul McCartney was selected as an honoree in 2002, but was unable to attend due to his cousin’s previously planned wedding. Eight years later, in 2010, he received the honor.

-Mel Brooks refused the honor when George W. Bush was in office, due to his distaste for Bush’s Iraq policy. He was honored in 2009, the first year Barack Obama was president.

-In 2017, producer Norman Lear accepted the honor, but opposed then President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts. Lear did attend the event, but Donald and First Lady Melania Trump were the first U.S. presidential couple not present.

Normally, The Kennedy Center Honors has aired between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. And the rainbow ribbon represents a “spectrum of skills within the performing arts,” according to Ivan Chermayeff, who created the design for it.

Enjoy the show!