{"id":17591,"date":"2025-12-17T16:59:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=17591"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:59:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:59:38","slug":"cheap-trick-defends-performing-at-trumps-kennedy-center-honors-amid-backlash-we-agreed-to-do-it-to-pay-tribute-to-our-lifelong-brothers-in-kiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=17591","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Trick Defends Performing at Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Honors Amid Backlash: \u2018We Agreed to Do It\u2019 to \u2018Pay Tribute to Our Lifelong Brothers in KISS\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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SOURCE: VARIETY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheap Trick has been feeling the heat from some fans since performing at the Donald J. Trump-hosted Kennedy Center Honors, an event that has become a political flashpoint since the president took over as chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center and installed a new board of his supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, amid an outcry that has had some followers renouncing their fandom of Cheap Trick following the performance \u2014 as well as, inevitably, Trump supporters publicly doubling up on their love for the band in response \u2014 the group has issued a statement insisting nothing more should be read into their appearance than a kinship with Kiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were asked to perform at this year\u2019s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony to pay tribute to our lifelong brothers in KISS, and to support artists and the arts,\u201d the band said in a message posted on Cheap Trick\u2019s X and Instagram accounts. \u201cWe agreed to do it for those reasons, and no others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran group performed \u201cRock \u2018N Roll All Nite\u201d in salute to Kiss, which was being inducted as a Kennedy Center honoree along with Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford. The show will be broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET\/PT on Dec. 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year marked a sharp break from the Kennedy Center Honors of the past, with most of the honorees known to be friends or at least friendly with Trump, who has otherwise alienated much of the artistic community. All of the honorees came to the White House the day before the event to receive newly redesigned medallions, with the president remarking on what a good friend Gene Simmons has been to him over the years as he placed a medal around the Kiss guitarist\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some fans of Kiss have balked at their favorite band accepting the honor from Trump, as well, although being a Kiss fan generally involves not holding the band to exceptionally high standards of social consciousness \u2014 and with Simmons\u2019 past support for Trump, it didn\u2019t come as a major surprise to many when the group accepted his blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheap Trick fans, though, may have had more reason to be surprised, to the extent that they may have believed the performance meant the band was down with the takeover of the Kennedy Center by a figure perceived as a villain and enemy of the arts among much of the rock world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2016, singer Robin Zander noted that the group had turned down an offer to play the Republican convention that year. \u201cThe Republican National Committee called our office and offered us $100,000 to play at their convention in Cleveland [this summer],\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cWe turned it down. Then we had second thoughts. Maybe we should have accepted it \u2013 but we would all have got swastika guitars made.\u201d (Tom Petersson was more circumspect, just telling the reporter, \u201cWe thought better of it.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The responses to Cheap Trick\u2019s new statement on their social accounts were across the spectrum:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cEveryone involved should have told Trump to go fuck himself. Your apology is weak sauce.\u201d (Cheap Trick\u2019s statement is not actually an apology.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cThank you so much for posting this. There\u2019s definitely been a divide among the fans, and KISS is having it twice as much with their KISS Army. I\u2019m sure Paul Stanley will have more to say about this after the show airs on television next week. For now, it\u2019s all about the music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cA lot of artists put on the spot. I respect your decision as well as that of those who choose not to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cThe band doesn\u2019t express any political affiliation. But I do!! TRUMP RULES!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cI\u2019m sure with a 50 yr career you\u2019ve said no to other gigs. You\u2019ll wear this forever. Such a disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cKiss had your back in the 70\u2019s and gave you a great spot to spring from. You were there to honor them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cHmmm\u2026 it\u2019s hard to be neutral with Donald Trump. You\u2019ll catch flack, I hope Kiss is worth the blowback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cSad you even thought this needed posted. People need to grow a pair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cThat\u2019s a sorry excuse. You shouldn\u2019t do it. You\u2019re normalizing this madness by being part of it. Not that it should matter to you but because of this I will no longer be a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cBun E. must be the only sane one left. And that is saying something!\u201d (Founding member Bun E. Carlos is no longer with the group.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOURCE: VARIETY Cheap Trick has been feeling the heat from some fans since performing at the Donald J. Trump-hosted Kennedy Center Honors, an event that has become a political flashpoint since the president took over as chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center and installed a new board of his supporters. Now, amid an… Read More »Cheap Trick Defends Performing at Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Honors Amid Backlash: \u2018We Agreed to Do It\u2019 to \u2018Pay Tribute to Our Lifelong Brothers in KISS\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17593,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17591\/revisions\/17593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}