Rock band Kiss have said they are “deeply honored” to accept President Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center Honor.
The Seventies band, responsible for hits like “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and “Rock and Roll All Nite,” were among a handful of stage, screen, and music legends selected to receive the prestigious award at this year’s ceremony, hosted by Trump himself. Other honorees announced Wednesday include disco icon Gloria Gaynor, Rocky star Sylvester Stallone, country singer George Strait, and British actor Michael Crawford.
Reacting to the accolade on Friday, the band’s four founding members expressed their gratitude.
“From our earliest days, Kiss has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off,” Kiss frontman Paul Stanley, 73, told TMZ. “The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of Kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band.”
Bassist and co-lead singer Gene Simmons, 75, added: “Kiss is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honor.”
“I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honor of our career,” said founding drummer Peter Criss, 79, while founding guitarist Ace Frehley, 74, called it “a dream come true that I never thought would materialize.”
Stanley’s comments, in particular, come in glaring contrast to his previous criticisms of the two-term Republican. Ahead of the 2020 election, Stanley spoke out against Trump’s “abhorrent” claims that if he lost the election, it was “rigged.”
“REGARDLESS of who you support, it is incendiary & abhorrent for ANY candidate to say ‘If I lose, the election is rigged,’” he posted on X at the time. “It’s an insult to those who have fought for the free, safe elections we have and dangerously implies that citizens who don’t share your views are the enemy.”
He later condemned the January 6 Capitol attacks, carried out by Trump supporters, labeling the mob “TERRORISTS.”
“This is armed insurrection,” Stanley wrote on X in 2021. “The flames were fanned today & over time by the president & specific senators who CANNOT be allowed now to distance from or denounce what they have directly caused. Know their names. THIS is the result of their deception. Shame.”
In May 2022, Simmons likened Trump’s camp to “cockroaches” and said he was “out for himself” in an interview with SPIN. “Look what that gentleman [Trump] did to this country and the polarization — got all the cockroaches to rise to the top,” the singer said at the time.
“I don’t think he’s a Republican or a Democrat. He’s out for himself, any way you can get there. And in the last election, over 70 million people bought it hook, line, and sinker.”
Meanwhile, Frehley vocalized his support for Trump in 2020, declaring him the “strongest leader that we’ve got on the table” during an appearance on The Cassius Morris Show.
Founded in New York City in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, Criss, and Frehley, Kiss became known for their face paint and outlandish stage presence, including fire-breathing performances and levitating drum sets. Criss and Frehley have since departed the band, with the current lineup consisting of co-founders Stanley and Simmons, drummer Eric Singer, and guitarist Tommy Thayer.
Praising the group as a “global phenomenon,” during Wednesday’s press conference, Trump added: “They made a fortune, and they’re great people, and they deserve it, and they work hard, and they’re still working hard.”
The annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, which typically recognizes those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture, will be held in December at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C.
It will mark the famed institution’s first award ceremony since Trump’s controversial takeover, following his return to the Oval Office.
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