WASHINGTON (AP) – An outspoken Patti LaBelle paid tribute to her lifelong friend Gladys Knight. Sean Penn called U2 “four cheeky Dublin punks”. The ballet dancers performed for director and composer Tania León. Matt Damon poked fun at his pal George Clooney, big time, while Sheryl Crow delivered a heartfelt rendition of “Baby Baby” to Amy Grant during Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors.
Knight, Clooney, Grant, León and U2 were celebrated at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which annually honors a select group of people for their artistic influences on American culture. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their respective spouses attended, as well as members of the president’s cabinet and congress.
A member of the audience from the political world, Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drew attention. He is recovering from a brutal attack at the Pelosi home in San Francisco in October. The pair received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Usually acts like U2 or Knight would headline such a show, but during the Kennedy Center event the honorees sit in the balcony and watch their peers praise and perform their works.
On the red carpet, Clooney, with his wife Amal by his side, joked that after seeing friends like Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts in attendance he was worried his tribute would be more of a “blush”. And it was kind of like that, although his friends and family showed obvious respect.
Roberts set the tone by taking the stage in a dress emblazoned with photos of Clooney. After an introduction that alternated between funny and sincere, he turned to a set designed to look like a smoky bar, the kind Clooney might enjoy. The actor’s father, Nick Clooney, regaled the crowd with stories of a young George, including the time the 7-year-old, heartbroken by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, he gave his father all his toy guns.
Damon took the funny route, joking about how Clooney once stole then-President Bill Clinton’s stationery and wrote notes to the other actors. Cheadle highlighted Clooney’s philanthropic work. But it was Clooney’s father who probably had the loudest praise, telling the crowd and his son, sitting in the balcony between Leon and U2’s Bono: “George’s best and most important work is still ahead of him .
Standing on a stage lit by a massive sign that read “Gladys,” LaBelle called Knight her “everything,” saying they had been friends for six decades and had seen each other through laughter and tears. “We do everything together,” LaBelle said. “I am honored to honor you tonight.”
Actor and hip-hop star LL Cool J said that whenever Knight sings, he connects with people. “One time I heard Gladys sing the ABC’s and I thought she was in church,” he said.
Knight, usually with his backing singers The Pips, has recorded dozens of albums with such classic hits as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” The challenge of singing that classic in front of the woman who made it famous fell to country music superstar Garth Brooks, who is a Kennedy Center honoree in his own right. He cited Knight’s “roots in country music” before launching into classical.
Each artist was introduced by a compilation of videos showing snippets of their lives. At Grant’s, her children spoke of their mother’s influence on them. Crow spoke of Grant’s influence on her as a young college student.
“Amy also taught me that it was possible to be funny, irreverent and Christian all at the same time,” Crow said.
Five ballet dancers took the stage to honor the composer and director Tania León, who left Cuba as a refugee in 1967; his passport was stamped “Cancelled” when he left the country. The performers were from the Dance Theater of Harlem, which León helped found when he finally made his way to New York City. She also established the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series and received the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for her work “Stride,” inspired by women’s rights champion Susan B. Anthony.
“How can I convey the extent of your musical genius?” asked actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Jazz pianist Jason Moran, singer Alicia Hall Moran and cellist Sterling Elliott played one of León’s creations, “Oh Yemanja.”
The last honoree of the night was U2. In a video recorded Saturday, U2 guitarist The Edge noted that a group of four “Irish shocks” were being honored for their contributions to American culture and said there is a bond between the group and the United States that really can’t be explained.
Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder sang “Elevation” and U2’s “One.” Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen brought his alter ego Borat on stage as part of the U2 tribute, pretending to mistake Biden for former President Donald Trump. Singers Brandi Carlile, Hozier, and Jamala, from the United States, Ireland, and Ukraine, respectively, closed the show with a soulful version of “Walk On.”
U2’s Bono is also known for his philanthropic work to eradicate poverty and raise awareness about AIDS. Jamala, whose home country of Ukraine has been embroiled in nearly a year of bloody war following the Russian invasion, spoke about this story of social activism as she introduced the final song of the night.
“It is fitting that on the night intended to honor them, they have once again used their platform to spread a message of peace. Honestly, to be here in this bright and warm hall tonight is really something extraordinary for me, when there is so much darkness in my native country, Ukraine,” he said.
The honorees came to the theater after a White House reception where Biden praised them before a star-studded crowd in the East Room as an “exceptional group of artists.”
“Thank you for showing us the power of the arts and ‘We the People,'” Biden said.
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AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report. Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.