George Clooney and Gladys Knight are among Kennedy Center honorees

Gladys Knight is escorted to attend the Kennedy Center honorees reception at the White House in Washington. Biden paid tribute to the honorees before the ceremony at the White House Sunday afternoon, praising them before a star-studded East Room crowd as an “exceptional group of artists.” “Thank you for showing us the power of the arts and ‘We the People,’” Biden said. “Because I speak for all Americans when I say we we’d rather live in your world than be without you in ours.” Biden, noting his love of Irish poets, called U2 “four sons of Ireland, poets in their own right” whose music “has changed the world.” “We would do well to remember today at a moment when there’s too much hate, too much anger, too much division here in America, and quite frankly, around the world,” Biden said. We get to carry each other.’” On the red carpet ahead of the Kennedy Center show, Clooney, with his wife, Amal, beside him, joked that after seeing friends like Don Cheadle and Julie Roberts in attendance he was worried his tribute would be more of a “roast.” Growing up in a small Kentucky town, he said, he watched the Kennedy Center Honors on TV adding that he was excited to be part of a fraternity that includes actors such as Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. León said during an interview when the honorees were announced that she wasn’t expecting “anything spectacular” when the Kennedy Center initially reached out to her.