Gladys Knight, George Clooney, and Amy Grant Were Honored at the Kennedy Center Honors
Washington— Patti LaBelle lauded Gladys Knight. At the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, Matt Damon made fun of George Clooney while Sheryl Crow sang “Baby Baby” to Amy Grant.
At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Knight, Clooney, Grant, and the band U2 were given awards. Every year, the Kennedy Center honors artists who have made a difference in American culture. The president, vice president, and both of their wives were there.
Clooney joked with his wife Amal on the red carpet before the Kennedy Center concert that having friends like Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts there made him worry that his tribute would be more of a “roast.” Even though his friends and family were nice to him, Clooney was made fun of.
The mood was set by Julia Roberts’s Clooney-themed dress. After a funny and emotional start, she moved to a smoky bar set that Clooney would like. After Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in 1968, George, then 7 years old, gave his father all of his toy guns.
Damon made a joke about Clooney stealing Bill Clinton’s paper so he could write to other actors. Cheadle liked how generous Clooney was. LaBelle said that Knight was her “everything,” and she added that they had laughed and cried together for 60 years.
“We do everything,” LaBelle said. “Tonight, I honor you.” LL Cool J, an actor, and hip-hop star said that when Knight sings, she gets people to feel something. “When Gladys sang the ABCs, I thought I was in church,” he said.
Garth Brooks sang “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight. Katie Couric talked about how she found out about Crow and how she did a cover of Grant’s song “Baby Baby.”
The awardees came to the theatre from an East Room party at the White House, where Vice President Joe Biden called them an “extraordinary group of artists.”
Biden said, “Thank you for showing us how powerful art and ‘We the People can be.” He talked about Clooney’s charitable work on and off screen, like helping the families of 9/11 victims and supporting the Parkland survivors’ movement for gun control.
Biden said that he was steady. That shows real courage. George Clooney’s.” Biden said that Grant’s voice is “a true gift from God that she shares with everyone.” He thanked León for “breathing new sounds into the soul of the nation” and said that he has all of Knight’s songs on his iPhone.
Biden told Knight, “We’re taking that midnight train.” “Because I think I speak for all Americans when I say we’d rather live in your world than without you in ours.”
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