What did Gloria Gaynor say about Obama? Singer’s political comments explored amid Trump’s Kennedy Center honor

Gloria Gaynor is among this year’s Kennedy Center honorees.

US President (and the cultural center’s chairman) Donald Trump announced the nominees on Wednesday, August 13. While he announced Gaynor’s name, the POTUS mentioned her Grammy wins for the albums I Will Survive and Testimony. Trump also said (via Fox News):

“Not only in terms of the years that have gone by to be great that long, but to have the two top of anything in that span of time, and with that kind of period between is pretty amazing. But I will say that ‘I Will Survive’ is an unbelievable song. I've heard it, you know like everyone else here, thousands of times. And it's one of those few that gets better every time you hear it and nobody can sing it like her, and that's an honor.”

.@POTUS announces @gloriagaynor as a 2025 Kennedy Center Honors nominee pic.twitter.com/YPztXwvCeZ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 13, 2025

Despite being honored by the GOP President-led Kennedy Center, Gloria Gaynor has not publicly aligned with any political party. However, the iconic disco legend once praised former US President Barack Obama. During a 2016 conversation with Rolling Stone, Gaynor spoke about the then-presidential candidates.

According to the magazine, the singer found their “lack of dignity appalling.” She drew comparisons with the then-incumbent POTUS, Obama. Gloria Gaynor saw the Democratic leader and then-First Lady Michelle Obama as “beacons for future generations.” She asserted:

“I think Obama presents that one thing: He never strayed from the dignity from the office of the president.”

The I've Got You singer refrained from naming the concurrent presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Eventually, The Apprentice (reality show) star became POTUS, succeeding Obama in January 2017. Although Trump lost the 2020 election, he returned to the White House in January 2025.

Gloria Gaynor joins Michael Crawford, KISS, Sylvester Stallone, and George Strait as the Kennedy Center honorees

Congratulations to our Honorees for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors:

Michael Crawford
Gloria Gaynor
Sylvester Stallone
KISS
George Strait pic.twitter.com/EOi50CEozY

— The Kennedy Center (@kencen) August 13, 2025

While addressing the media on Tuesday, Trump named this year’s nominees for the Kennedy Center Honors, scheduled for December 7. The POTUS started by announcing the 73-year-old country musician, actor, and producer, George Strait, as the first honoree to much applause from the crowd.

Trump remarked (via Fox News):

“He is believed by millions of people to just be as good at it as you can get, and he's beloved by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. He's really something and they call him the king of Country.”

The Phantom of the Opera star and Tony winner, Michael Crawford, was the second nominee. Trump described him as "one of the greatest" Broadway artists ever. He also admitted that Crawford has been one of his favorites. The president praised him for his exceptional voice and said:

“Michael is very special and [he did] one of the greatest roles in the history of Broadway. And nobody did it like him.”

Trump announced the Rocky star Sylvester Stallone and Gloria Gaynor next, before concluding the list of nominees with one of the best-selling bands of all time, KISS.

Later, POTUS also addressed his appointment as the chairman of the Kennedy Center, which many critics termed a self-appointment. He said:

“A few short months ago, I became chairman of the Kennedy Center and we completely reversed it. We reversed what was happening. We ended the woke political programming. And we're restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country anywhere in the world.”

Elsewhere during the press conference, Trump also mocked the Academy Awards for being woke and claimed that it has “lousy ratings.” In contrast, he remarked that the Kennedy Center has everything.