WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden hosted a reception at the White House on Sunday night for the annual Kennedy Center Honors, celebrating the work of artists including the band U2, actor George Clooney, singers Amy Grant and Gladys Knight, and composer Tania León.
“Thank you for showing us the power of the arts,” Biden said, praising them as a “truly exceptional” group.
This is the second year the Bidens have hosted a party for the honorees after President Donald Trump discontinued the tradition and the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the ceremony in 2020.
Biden singled out each of the honorees, highlighting their accomplishments.
Biden said Clooney had portrayed iconic characters, but also paid tribute to his work off-screen as an advocate for human rights.
“He travels to war zones to end genocides and war crimes, exposes war profiteering, helps refugees and advances the rights of journalists,” the president said.
Turning to Knight, Biden listed the many accomplishments of her musical career, and spoke of attending one of her performances decades ago at the Delaware State Fair.
“Your voice has spoken to what breaks our hearts, what tears us apart, what lifts our spirits and brings us together, what makes us human,” the president said. “Gladys, you’re truly one of the best things to ever happen to me.”
Speaking about Christian singer Grant’s work, Biden said “singing is praying twice.” And the president praised León’s work founding the country’s first Black classical ballet company.
The president said U2’s music had changed the world. “U2 has spoken to some of the unspeakable costs of hate and anger and division, the pain and suffering and denial of freedom, senseless loss of life, and the inhumanity we inflict on one another, as a nation, as a people, and in our own lives,” he said.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and actors Matt Damon and Julia Roberts were among the guests at the White House reception. Sean Penn, Katie Couric, and musicians Garth Brooks, wearing a black hat, and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam were also in attendance. Clooney was accompanied by Amal Clooney.
Following the reception, the president, first lady and honorees are slated to head to the Kennedy Center’s Opera House for a performance honoring the nominees.
Trump skipped the ceremony at the Kennedy Center in 2017 after two honorees — television writer and producer Norman Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade — said they planned to skip the reception at the White House because of political disagreements with the president.
Trump again opted against attending in 2018, when prominent critic Cher was being awarded, and in 2019, when the show “Sesame Street” was recognized. That came a year after Trump proposed zeroing out federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in his annual budget.
In 2020, the Kennedy Center postponed the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.
