President Donald Trump caused quite a stir earlier this year when ordered a major shake-up at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that included installing himself as chairman. And he was back at it again last week with his announcement of the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors recipients.
This year’s ceremony will honor country music legend George Strait, actor and comedian Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Stallone, the band Kiss, and singer Gloria Gaynor. While the left and media have been up in arms over Trump’s plan to “make the Kennedy Center… GREAT AGAIN,” they have now turned their attention to chastising Gaynor for accepting the award – with some going so far as to dismiss her as a DEI pick.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Walter Kirn, editor-at-large of County Highway, to discuss the pushback Gaynor has received and why it reveals the hypocrisy of the left.
The Controversy
Gaynor is perhaps best known for her 1978 hit “I Will Survive,” and she may need to adopt that mantra to weather the criticism raining down on her in the wake of being named a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree by President Trump.
In a post on Instagram, The View co-host Ana Navarro begged Gaynor to reject the award because she believes the president, who is also set to host the annual award ceremony, “is a stain on the prestige and significance” of the Kennedy Center.
Calling the songstress a “goddess” who “deserves all the flowers that come her way,” Navarro said it is her “wish” that Gaynor not “accept an award from the hands of a man who has attacked the rights and history of women, people of color, and LGBTQ.” The political commentator claimed “the gay community, in particular, helped turn her signature song into an anthem.”
Her final plea: “Don’t do it, Gloria!”
While Navarro took issue with the fact that the award is coming from Trump, a CNN panelist cast doubt on Gaynor’s deservedness altogether. Atlanta-Journal Constitution Washington Bureau Chief Tia Mitchell, who is a black woman, said the Grammy winner was only selected because she is a black woman.
“I do believe as much as the Trump administration has attacked DEI, I think they wanted a person of color on the list of Kennedy Center honorees,” Mitchell claimed on CNN Sunday.
She then threw shade at Gaynor’s resume. “And to me, the fact that Gloria Gaynor is the one person of color on the list indicates that they struggle to find a person of color who would agree to be on the list,” she continued. “Because she doesn’t have a huge body of work, which is what the Kennedy Center usually picks is people who are icons in their genre of the arts, and she’s basically a one hit wonder.”
The Hypocrisy
Kirn said this a prime example of how the left’s hypocrisy. “They want to have it both ways,” he explained. “They tell you when you can receive an honor and when you must, and they tell you when you shouldn’t and when you mustn’t. And they do it from on high, and they do it to people who’ve worked hard all their lives.”
Similarly, he said, they want to have it both ways on identity politics. “The first thing they notice about [Gaynor] is her race. At the same time, they want to say that she’s a token…. You can’t have it both ways,” Kirn noted. “That commentator derogated Gloria Gaynor… The only black person on that list was also the one who was unqualified. That is a horrible reality of these… ‘anti-racist’ commissars. They will tell you when you’re an Uncle [Tom]; and they will tell you when you’re a shining light; and they determine it.”
Megyn said it is impossible to keep track of the left’s rules at this point. “If you are a minority who elevates herself just with great talent and a great song, then you that’s not okay because it’s ‘evil orange man’ who is honoring you,” she asked. “I’m trying to keep up with the rules… If you are an artist who would like to accept a Kennedy Center Award, how do you do the calculation? What is the math?”
Kirn joked that the safest bet would be to “call up MSNBC and say, ‘Can you arrange a panel and determine whether or not I should be able to get this award or not?'” But, in reality, he believes the answer should be simple for anyone not kowtowing to the ‘woke’ mob.
“The answer to that, for any self-respecting artist, should be: F-you. Go away,'” Kirn concluded.
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirn by tuning in to episode 1,130 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.