Vince Gill didn’t love the idea of playing at the Trump-Kennedy Center… but the country music legend went through with it for his friend.

Late last year, the Kennedy Centers Honors event aired on CBS, and the King of Country Music – George Strait – was there to be recognized alongside other cultural icons like the rock band KISS, movie star Sylvester Stallone, Broadway actor Michael Crawford, and disco legend Gloria Gaynor. It was a real who’s who.

The Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. is the site for the annual Kennedy Center Honors event that inducts a new group of artists and entertainers each year. The living memorial to President John F. Kennedy (that recently tacked on Donald Trump’s name to the building as well) hosts the event that has honored many notable country acts over the years, including the likes of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, George Jones and many others.

This year, the country music representation at the awards ceremony was the one and only George Strait. You probably saw the viral moment that he and President Trump shared in the Oval Office ahead of the ceremony. That turned into its own sort of spectacle, but what many people were looking forward to was the actual honoring of the notable figures that took place at the Kennedy Center later on.

Miranda Lambert, Brooks & Dunn and Vince Gill all took the stage to honor the “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” singer. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now, Gill admitted that when he was asked to help honor Strait, he admits that he was hesitant to say yes because… well, Donald Trump.

Podcast host Joseph Hudak asked Vince Gill if he had to think about saying “Yes” to performing at that event, and here’s what he had to say:

“Of course I did. I don’t have very much respect for the kind of person you’re talking about it. I’m not a political guy. I’m not gonna run somebody down, and it’s not my way to do that. I met the man twice and was completely uninspired, you know? I just can’t fathom treating people that way on any level.”

It’s interesting that he never chooses to actually say President Trump’s name… but there’s no confusion as to who he’s referring to when he called him “the man.”

Gill made sure to back up those thoughts with clarification on how he thinks politically. The “Go Rest High On That Mountain” singer doesn’t like political labels, and said that though you can call him whatever you want to, he considers himself to be in the middle of the road:

“I’m a conservative guy on a lot of issues. I’m a liberal guy on a lot of issues. I don’t think I sit one way. You can call me woke, you can call me a Bible thumper. You can call me all those things and I think a lot of them are true. But I don’t think you have to just sit in one lane and only be in that lane. I think every issue has pros and cons and right and wrongs and what’s maybe best for everybody.”

But back to saying yes to the Trump-Kennedy Center event.

Ultimately, Vince Gill decide to push his disdain for the President of the United States to the side and prioritized his relationship with George Strait – whom he’s known for over four decades. He knew that the moment was about George’s legacy, not anyone else’s, and went through with his attendance and performance at the event:

“That was a hard, ‘Yes.’ But George has been my friend for 43 years. And I did it for George. But I’m also… I’m not gonna try to make a point. I’m not gonna try to encourage anybody else to think like I do. You don’t see me out that rattling my opinion, and the moment you do, you piss half the people off, right away. And it’s not because I’m afraid, it’s my make up as a person. It’s not part of my DNA to draw attention to myself… I want people to be kind to each other. That’s what I love seeing. On both sides of the world, both sides are equally as ugly to me, and deserve a good bit of the reason why it is the way it is. Kindness would cure it all.”