Queen Latifah is set to take the stage as host at the 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors. Announced by The Kennedy Center and CBS on Monday (Nov. 25), it will be the 54-year-old’s first time hosting the program.
As previously announced, recipients to be honored at the annual national celebration of the arts in Washington, D.C. this December are acclaimed director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; legendary American rock band the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, the late Phil Lesh, Bobby Weir); blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution.
This year’s installment takes place on Dec. 8, 2024, at the Kennedy Center Opera House and will broadcast Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, from 8:30-11:00 p.m., ET/PT on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+.
Queen Latifah attends the 46th Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center on December 03, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images
The New Jersey native was recognized during the 2023 event by Missy Elliott as well as Yo-Yo, MC Lyte, Monie Love, and Rapsody.
“I happen to see this young woman rapping, but what caught my attention were her clothes because she had on the African print. The African medallion, and I kept hearing her say ‘Oooh, ladies first,’ over and over and over again,” detailed the Supa Dupa Fly rapper during the event.
“And I sat there and I was like, ‘Wow, she’s saying that during a time that we kept hearing, ‘It’s a man’s world.’ She was saying this unapologetically, changing the narrative right there. Something that I was so accustomed to hearing, but now I’m hearing ‘Ladies first.’ And then, I sat there and said, ‘Who is this girl?’ And I looked at the bottom of the screen and it said, ‘Queen Latifah.’ Not Latifah, but Queen Latifah.”
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