WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Sunday celebrated artists including Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell and Lorne Michaels at the Kennedy Center Honors, withdrawing the president’s participation in the annual ceremony skipped by Republican Donald Trump.
Singer Justino Diaz and Motown founder Berry Gordy join a group of artists selected for top honors this year by the Kennedy Center, which was hit by the restrictions of politics and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden, a Democrat who took over from Trump in January, will hold a ceremony for the five honorees at the White House before the event in Washington. Trump received no such reception during his four-year term and did not attend the show at the Kennedy Center.
The arts community at large did not object to that absence. In 2018, Cher, a respected singer and an outspoken critic of Trump, said she would have had to accept the award in the bathroom if Trump had come.
The awards recognize lifelong achievement in the performing arts.
Midler, a singer and actress, has received Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe awards for a career spanning decades, with more than 30 million album sales worldwide.
Singer-songwriter Michelle, a Native Canadian best known for songs such as “Both Sides, Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi”, is a multiple-Grammy recipient and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Michaels, who is also a native of Canada, is the creator and executive producer of the long-running NBC sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”
Diaz, a Puerto Rican bass-baritone opera singer, has performed with opera companies around the world.
Gordy, a songwriter and record producer from Detroit, founded the Motown record label, synonymous with a jazz- and blues-influenced musical sound, popularized by black artists including Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Lionel Richie Gaya, whose career he helped. shape it. , Gordy is also about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here.