President Donald Trump on Sunday hosted the Kennedy Center Honors awards, becoming the first U.S. president to lead the ceremony.

The annual event has honored celebrities for their influence on American culture and arts since 1978.

This year, the ceremony honored actor Sylvester Stallone for the “Rocky” and “Rambo” series in which he played the titular characters, Gloria Gaynor for her song “I Will Survive,” the Rock band KISS, country music singer George Strait, and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford.

“Billions and billions of people have watched them over the years,” Trump said at the start of the show.

“This is a group that really is unique,” Trump told reporters on the red carpet as he entered the event. “Over the years I’ve been watching. You’ve had some wonderful honoraries, but I think this is really very much unparalleled.”

The stars being celebrated expressed humility at the achievement in remarks to the press at the red carpet outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where the event is being held.

“This is an amazing event,” Stallone said. “But you’re caught up in the middle of it. It’s hard to take it in until the next day ... but I’m incredibly humbled by it.”

Crawford, who is best known for his career-defining portrayal of the titular character in “The Phantom of the Opera” musical’s original production, said that receiving the award was “humbling, especially at the end of a career.”

Gaynor said it “feels like a dream” to be recognized at the event.

“To be recognized in this way is the pinnacle,” she said on the red carpet.

Trump announced that he had agreed to host the show in August, the first time a president will have hosted the ceremony. In the past, it has been hosted by celebrities such as Stephen Colbert, Queen Latifah, Gloria Estefan, David Letterman, and Walter Cronkite.

At a State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday, Trump said “it’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen” when the show airs.

The full program will air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 23.

Trump was chosen to host the show by the Kennedy Center’s board, which was also responsible for selecting the 2025 honorees.

Asked how he had prepared to fill the role, Trump told reporters that he “didn’t really prepare very much.”

“I have a good memory, so I can remember things, which is very fortunate,” Trump said. “But just, I wanted to just be myself. You have to be yourself. Johnny Carson, he was himself.”

In the past, the president has suggested that the Kennedy Center could be renamed to the “Trump–Kennedy Center.”

Asked about the possibility of the building being renamed on the red carpet Sunday night, Trump replied, “I don’t know. I hear that, but I don’t know. That’s up to the board. The board makes that decision.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.