Breitbart News caught up with Simmons for a brief interview ahead of the program and asked Simmons what it meant to be honored by the president and for his thoughts on Trump’s Oval Office, which now features an abundance of presidential portraits and plenty of gold trimming.
“It doesn’t suck,” Simmons said about KISS being presented with the Kennedy Center honoree medals on Saturday night.
He compared Trump’s Oval Office to the iterations of former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, saying Trump’s is “terrific.”
“It used to be a drab. I’ve been here through Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush, and it used to be a pretty drab place. It’s coming alive. I think it’s great,” Simmons told Breitbart News.
Breitbart News also asked Simmons’ bandmates, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss, for their thoughts on being honored by the president on Saturday.
“It’s an incredible honor. It’s surreal, and as a kid who grew up with nothing, the idea of being in the White House, the Oval Office, receiving accolades from the president, that’s beyond anything that I could have ever fathomed,” Stanley said on the red carpet.
“And that’s what makes America great, is the fact that we can all achieve whatever we set out to do with hard work. Hard work makes anything possible. You know, achieving something is determined by how hard you’re willing to work for it, and that’s what gives it its value. So I’m humbled and grateful and blessed to share it with my wife,” he added.
Criss told Breitbart News that “it was history.”
“You could feel the vibes in the room. I was like, looking at the desk, going, ‘Well, that’s where Roosevelt sat during the war. That’s where Lincoln sat. That’s where JFK [sat].’ I was a big JFK kid, and it was a high,” he added. “When you see it in motion pictures, they always make it – you think it’s going to be this ginormous room. It’s tiny. It’s a really little room, but the history that went on there, the paintings of Lincoln and Washington on the wall, and it was dynamite. It was really cool.”
“A kid from Brooklyn, I never thought I’d be in the Oval Office sitting with the president of the United States,” he added. “So it’s been wonderful.”
Ace Frehley, the fourth original member of KISS who passed away in October, was honored during the program with a moment of silence.
Breitbart News
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