Queen Latifah has been tapped to host the 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors, it was announced Monday by CBS and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This marks her first time hosting the special, which will air at 8:30-11 p.m. ET/8-10:30 p.m. PT on Dec. 22 on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.

The actor-musician-producer is herself a recipient of a 2023 Kennedy Center Honor, along with being a Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee. She’s currently the star and executive producer of CBS’ The Equalizer.

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The Kennedy Center Honors gala will take place Dec. 8 on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage in Washington D.C. As previously announced, the recipients of this year’s honors for lifetime artistic achievement are filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; rock band the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann, 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 a historic American institution.

The Kennedy Center Honors “recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique contributions have shaped the way we see ourselves, each other and our world.” Recipients are chosen for their impact in the worlds in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures or television.
 
The 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors will be produced by Done+Dusted for a third year, in association with ROK Productions. The event will be executive produced by David Jammy, Elizabeth Kelly and Jack Sussman. The show will be directed by Alex Rudzinski.