Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Kennedy Center Honors This Weekend: Garth Brooks Playing for KISS, All Events the Same as Ever Because New Staff Panicked

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The Kennedy Center Honors will take place on Sunday in Washington.

I’m told that Garth Brooks is going to be the musical tribute guest for the rock group KISS. A country star, Brooks seems like an odd choice but he loves KISS and has played with them before.

It’s unclear if Brooks will also play for country superstar George Strait. So far, that hasn’t come up.

The Kennedy Center is under new management with Donald Trump and tricky Dick Grenell, his lackey. Sources say the staff is so confused that regular KCH guests were not invited to the show. However, the usual weekend get togethers are going forward — like the brunch, State Dept. dinner, and W

hite House visit — all at the regular locales — “because they panicked and no one had new ideas.”

The Kennedy Center Honors look like a mess coming up. Donald Trump said he was hosting the show, but that may not be the case. He may just give opening remarks or a wave. The Center is vastly understaffed, no one knows anything, which is leading to more confusion.

The Honors are going to KISS and George Strait, plus one hit disco singer Gloria Gaynor — a Trump donor — as well as “Phantom of the Opera” star Michael Crawford, and “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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