Lionel Richie is considering joining a boycott of the White House reception for the Kennedy Center Honors because he is "not really happy" about U.S. President Donald Trump's "controversies".
The All Night Long legend was recently announced among the stars set to be recognised for their contributions to American culture at the prestigious Washington, D.C. event.
The 2017 ceremony, set to take place in December (17), will be the first under Trump's presidency, and when the news first broke earlier this month (Aug17), fellow honouree, iconic TV writer Norman Lear, immediately made it clear he would not be taking part in the traditional visit to the White House, which accompanies the annual gala.
However, Lionel has yet to make up his mind about taking the trip to the presidential home, suggesting Trump's various political scandals could result in his removal from office in the coming months.
"I wanna just play it by ear," he told U.S. breakfast show Today. "I must tell you, I'm not really happy as to what's going on right now with the controversies, and the weekly, daily, hourly (scandals Trump finds himself in), but I think I'm just gonna wait it out for a minute and see where it's going to be by that time. This is going to be in December; we may be in a whole other world by that time, but I'm gonna wait it out."
Lionel then appeared to reference the heavy criticism Trump received for his delay in condemning the violent white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend (12-13Aug17), adding, "I totally understand Norman's point of view and I understand where we are as a country right now is going backwards, but all we can do is kinda sit here and hold our breaths on that (how racial tensions in the U.S. will change in the future)."
"I'll let you know (about visiting the White House); stay tuned!" he concluded.
The other stars to make up the Class of 2017 are LL Cool J, Gloria Estefan, and dancer Carmen de Lavallade.
