The rock band KISS says it is “deeply honored” to be recognized as one of 2025’s Kennedy Center honorees, despite previously attacking President Donald Trump, the center’s chairman, as “abhorrent.”
KISS members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley “all expressed gratitude after being bestowed with the institution’s highest honor” by President Trump, TMZ reported.
Simmons told the outlet, “KISS is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honored to receive the Kennedy Center Honor.”
“From our earliest days, KISS has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off,” Stanley 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.”
Frehley, meanwhile, called the honor “a dream come true that I never thought would materialize,” while Criss said, “I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honor of our career.”
TMZ also noted that Frehley has referred to himself as a “Trump supporter in 2020,” and Simmons has praised President Trump in the past.
Stanley, however, appears to have changed his tune from previous years.
In 2020, the KISS frontman attacked President Trump ahead of the 2020 election, declaring, “It is incendiary & abhorrent for ANY candidate to say ‘If I lose, the election is rigged.’”
“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,” Stanley added at the time.
On January 6, 2021, the singer attacked the president again, bizarrely claiming that Trump fanned the flames of “TERRORISTS” engaging in an “armed insurrection.”
On Wednesday, President Trump revealed the honorees of the 48th Kennedy Center Honors: KISS, legendary actor Sylvester Stallone, country singer George Strait, English actor Michael Crawford, and iconic singer Gloria Gaynor.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
