This is both extremely disgusting and incredibly sad.

[Wiz Imp]

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/gloria-gaynor-trump-donor-kennedy-center-honor-b2815221.html

Disco icon Gloria Gaynor has been revealed as a major MAGA donor following her surprise selection by President Donald Trump to receive a prestigious Kennedy Center honor.

In FEC records first discovered by MeidasTouch and seen by The Independent, it shows that from 2023 to 2024, the singer — real name Gloria Fowles — gave significant contributions to several Republican politicians, including $476.18 to Texas senator Ted Cruz, $356.15 to disgraced former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, $2,160.57 to current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and $1,14.10 to Trump’s National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.

Other notable conservative figureheads who’ve benefited from Gaynor’s financial support are Trump’s former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley; his former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson; and his 2024 presidential challenger, Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Records show that Gaynor has so far made four separate donations in 2025 to WinRed, an American fundraising platform for the Republican Party, endorsed by the Republican National Committee. Her first listed donation to WinRed dates back to August 29, 2023.

I said when he was name that she had to have been confirmed as a Trump supporter for her to get the honor which she clearly doesn't remotely deserve.

[LeftInTX]

1. I agree with you! Thanks for the info.

I'm glad someone did some research.


George Strait deserves it though. I doubt if Trump has ever listened to George Strait's music. I know George is GOP. I think Abbott or someone recommended him to Trump, esp after he held that benefit concert for flood relief. George is talented.

[newdeal2]

2. Those are not significant donations but she is clearly MAGA

Very disappointing to hear.

[oasis]

3. Disco icon? Who?

[Ocelot II]

6. They do? I remembered the name but had to google her to be reminded

what she was famous for - the song "I Will Survive." But that was in the '70s and I haven't heard mention of her in decades. A lot of younger people probably have no idea who she is.

[oasis]

9. I remember the song. Couldn't name the artist.

Thanks.

[Ocelot II]

10. It's a great song, but I'm sure many young people don't know it or its creator.

[oasis]

12. She falls into the "One hit wonder" category.

[Wiz Imp]

20. I'd call her a "two-hit wonder"

She hit #9 in 1974 with "Never Can Say Goodbye" which was truly one of the most important early disco songs in terms of crossing over to straight white audiences. However, that and "I Will Survive" were her only 2 songs to ever hit the Top 40 in the US. She actually did have a bit more success in the UK.

[TommyT139]

26. The gay ones do.

[Hellbound Hellhound]

18. To elaborate on my prior timestamped post... I suffered domestic abuse. I never cared for this song.

Too preachy in lyrics and the music itself is "Normal" at best, an origin point of "Four chord" pop culture slop that invaded the late 80s and early 90s.

[Wiz Imp]

24. That may be true, but it is better known as an anthem of gay empowerment.

Time Out magazine in the UK named it #1 in their 2022 list of "The 50 Best Gay Songs to Celebrate Pride All Year Long". Rolling Stone named it #10 in their 2023 list of "The 50 Most Inspirational LGBTQ Songs of All Time". And Billboard magazine this year named it #11 in their list of "The 100 Greatest LGBTQ+ Anthems of All Time".

It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The song's lyrics describe the narrator's discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup.

[choie]

29. So it's natural for her

to accept a medal from a sexual abuser.

[oasis]

8. I'm not "everyone" so I'll google. Thanks.

[Jack Valentino]

13. I know her name, but I can't now remember anything she did

before I google it.... which I'm not bothering to do.

And plenty of younger people probably have no idea who she was....
those who weren't yet born in the disco period

[Conjuay]

34. this might help-

?t=59

[Hellbound Hellhound]

17. Born in 85, never heard of them.

Please don't assume everyone "knows" what you "know", for some of us pop culture is about as useless as geo-trig in an English Lit class.

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. Yeah, but if you were born in '85, you're after the disco era

"Disco icon" is right for Gaynor, and yeah, if you don't know disco music, then you have to look up who the top artists were. The explanation is "disco icon". I had no idea who George Strait is, because I don't know country music. I don't think that means a discussion of his politics must start with a discography for those of us who aren't fans.

[Hellbound Hellhound]

36. Oh, point certainly granted. My only point of contestation was the declaration "Everyone knows".

I wouldn't have been able to tell you who Gaynor was if you put a gun to my head, and it's evident that the sentiment is at least marginally shared even in this thread. "Everyone" certainly doesn't "know".

I have no axe to grind in regards to anything other than a throwaway comment of not knowing who Gaynor was and disliking the song "I will survive" as a general statement.

[travelingthrulife]

33. I have never heard of her.

[rollin74]

38. Me neither

this is the first I’ve ever heard of her

[Ocelot II]

4. Has she done anything notable since the '70s?

I guess you can just buy a Kennedy Center honor these days...

[Wiz Imp]

14. She's the very definition of a 2-Hit wonder

She had an early influential Top 10 Disco Hit in "Never Can Say Goodbye" in 1974. Then in 1978 she did "I Will Survive" which is a truly iconic song (but also happens to to be completely opposite of MAGA ideology). Since then? She hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart exactly once with a song that peaked at #42 (so not even making the Top 40) in 1979. I'm guessing they felt they had to include at least one Black performer and she was the "biggest" star they could find willing to humiliate themselves for Trump.

[John1956PA]

11. Sometime back around 1984, SNL cast member Christopher Guest . . .

. . . portrayed an Indian Guru enumerating some of the greatest mysteries in life. At one point he ponders, "That girl Gloria Gaynor who sang 'I Will Survive.' Whatever happened to her?"

[chowder66]

15. Weird amounts.

[oasis]

21. Something a washed-up, has-been would do

to get noticed.

[MustLoveBeagles]

16. This is disappointing

[Wiz Imp]

25. Disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising. Like I said, I find it sad.

[question everything]

19. Who donates $476.18, $356.15 or $2160.57? Are there taxes added? Most of us donate even numbers

[B.See]

23. As I've said before, I liked a number

of disco hits, but "I Will Survive" was among those I loathed, not because of the content nor the artist, but because they played the HELL out of it. For me, it got old FAST.

[58Sunliner]

27. So sad. Old French expression.

Le poulet a trouve son couteau.

[hamsterjill]

28. Wow. Thanks for the research and information. I will take her advice, then.

I will survive...without her.

That song was my anthem at one point. But "I Am Woman" has always been a better song anyway.

[no_hypocrisy]

30. Maybe she's angling for a Medal of Freedom from TSF.

Obama awarded the same to Gloria Estefan, who ironically was 1,000% Republican due to her family's Cuban support for Baptista.

[Wiz Imp]

31. I don't know where you're getting that from

https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/obama-courts-anti-castro-stars-035875

MIAMI BEACH — President Barack Obama raked in millions for the Democratic National Committee during a stop here Thursday, but the real prize is an unprecedented endorsement from two of the most influential ambassadors to a critical Florida voting bloc.

Obama’s appearance Thursday on the elite Star Island makes him the first politician — Democrat or Republican — to tap into this Miami money machine, as he headlined a fundraiser at the waterfront home of Cuban-born singer Gloria Estefan and her producer husband, Emilio.

The Estefans have had the ear of presidents for decades. They’ve talked U.S.-Cuba relations with both Republican and Democratic administrations. But despite open invitations from both sides of the aisle, the couple has never before raised money for either political party.

Their decision to do so for Obama is a sign of how fluid the politics of South Florida’s traditionally Republican Cuban-American voters has become.

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5116696-gloria-estefan-homeless-shelters-trump-immigration-crackdown/
Gloria Estefan to Congress: Support for women’s homeless shelters ‘a no-brainer’

https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2025-07-24-u1-e199370-s27061-nid307658-gloria-estefan-nunca-he-visto-ee-uu-tan-polarizado
Gloria Estefan: "I have never seen the U.S. so polarized as it is now."

The artist, exiled from Cuba, spoke about the fear generated by the climate of tension in the country that welcomed her, especially due to the immigration policy of the Donald Trump administration, which targets and deports individuals who entered the United States, even through legal channels.

What is Gloria Estefan's opinion on the immigration policy in the U.S.?
Gloria Estefan criticizes the immigration policy promoted by the Donald Trump administration for targeting and deporting immigrants, even those who entered through legal avenues. She points out that these practices reflect a loss of humanity and an inadequate treatment of immigrants in the United States.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/18/gloria-estefan-the-us-response-to-the-coronavirus-lacks-leadership.html
Gloria Estefan says there’s a ‘serious lack of leadership’ in the U.S. coronavirus response

Asked about the leadership from U.S. President Trump’s administration and his handling of the pandemic so far, Estefan said the country needed inspiration from the top and a “mask mandate.”

“I think we’ve suffered from a serious lack of leadership. I think that at the beginning, the prudent thing would have been to listen to the task force that was really expressing that the best way we could protect everyone was to have a mask mandate,” she said.

https://fiercebymitu.com/calladitas-no-more/gloria-estefan-immigration-raids-criticism/
‘I Don’t Recognize My Country Anymore’: Gloria Estefan Speaks Out on the U.S. Political Crisis

“I don’t recognize my country anymore,” Estefan said. “Never in the sixty-five years that I’ve been here… I lived through desegregation [and saw] the horrors that African Americans experienced during that time, trying to stand up with Martin Luther King. I lived through that, saw it.” She added, “I was a child, but I saw everything. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“It really scares me,” she said, referring to recent political developments. “It also scares me when the division of government, the three branches of government, are ignored. When suddenly a law is passed, and it’s not enforced. It makes me feel like… remember that I came from Cuba.”

Her reference to her upbringing under a dictatorship is intentional. Estefan emphasized the fragility of freedom in the U.S., pointing out how quickly democratic institutions can erode when power goes unchecked. “Freedom must be defended,” she said. “People in this country don’t realize how fragile it is. I hope that’s not the case. I pray that I’m wrong… but we have to be careful because that’s not what history shows us.”

“I’m scared by what I’m seeing,” she said. “I hope the courts in this country uphold the law… The three branches of government have equal power.” And if anyone thinks this doesn’t affect them, Estefan disagrees. “They are not criminals,” she said of many migrants who have lived in the US for decades. “They are people who have been here for decades, contributing to the country with their children who were born here.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Estefan#:~:text=In%20the%20fall%20of%202011,the%20It%20Gets%20Better%20campaign.

In the fall of 2011, Estefan expressed her views on gay rights and gay marriage and said that she was a strong supporter of both. She said: "I think everyone should be able to marry who they love, and it should just be." Estefan also recorded a video for the It Gets Better campaign.

[rollin74]

37. Gloria who?

Sorry. Never even heard of her