McCartney puts off Kennedy Center Honors

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Friday that Sir Paul McCartney, citing a personal scheduling conflict, will not receive the 2002 Kennedy Center Honor.

McCartney, who had been announced last month as one of this year's honorees, will receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 2003 instead.

"Sir Paul expressed to the Center his 'deepest regret and profound apologies' for being unable to be in Washington in December," said the Kennedy Center in a prepared statement.

"The Kennedy Center understands and respects Sir Paul's sense of priority that places an inescapable personal obligation ahead of other commitments," said Kennedy Center Chairman James A. Johnson.

Kennedy Center spokeswoman Tiki Davies said Johnson will consult next week with the Artist Committee and the Kennedy Center Board to select an artist to join actor James Earl Jones, conductor James Levine, entertainer Chita Rivera and actress Elizabeth Taylor to receive the 25th annual Kennedy Center Honors at gala ceremonies in Washington on December 7 & 8.

Davies said that, although McCartney's situation is unprecedented in the history of the Kennedy Center Honors, officials are prepared to deal with it.

"The procedure is always the same in the sense that the Artist Committee makes recommendation of artists who are appropriate to receive a Kennedy Center Honor," she said, "and from those recommendations the board votes."

Davies said the artist committee will work from an existing list of potential candidates for a Kennedy Center Honor, but that McCartney's slot this year would not necessarily be filled by another rock 'n' roll artist.

"It isn't necessarily divided up discipline by discipline," said Davies. "There isn't a given slot for rock 'n' roll."

The spokeswoman said the slot could go to someone from the world of dance.

"Quite often we have someone from the dance world," she said. "We don't have a ballet dancer this year."

McCartney, 60, one of the most successful songwriters in history, revolutionized pop music as a founding member of The Beatles. His song "Yesterday" has been played more than six million times on U.S. radio stations and been covered by more artists than any other pop standard.

In 1997, McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Past Kennedy Center Honorees include Julie Andrews, Chuck Berry, Sean Connery, Bill Cosby, Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, Willie Nelson, Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarotti and Stevie Wonder.

The awards will be presented at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Dec. 7 in Washington. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush will host the annual Honors Gala the following night at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

The event will be taped for telecast later in December as a two-hour special on CBS.