President Donald Trump on Wednesday named country music star George Strait, “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford among the first batch of Kennedy Center Honors nominees under his leadership as the center’s chairman and said he’ll host the awards program.

Trump said he didn’t want to host the program but was invited to do so and agreed.

The Republican president avoided the Kennedy Center Honors awards program during his first term after artists said they wouldn't attend out of protest.

This year, he has taken over as the Kennedy Center's new chairman and fired the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists.

Trump, who had indicated he wanted a more active role in the selection process, said he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the honorees. He said he “turned down plenty” of names, saying those individuals were “too woke,” or too liberal.

He described the artists he announced on Wednesday, including several of his favorites, as “great people.”

Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee selects the recipients, who over the years have ranged from George Balanchine and Tom Hanks to Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim.

The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists. Until Trump’s first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient.