Obama Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Obama awarded artists, athletes and activists the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, at the White House. Honorees included Ellen Degeneres, Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, and Bill Gates.

Watch the full Presidential Medal of Freedom event below.

From Entertainment Weekly:

Ellen DeGeneres gets emotional while receiving Presidential Medal of Freedom

From On Tuesday, President Barack Obama honored 21 artists, athletes, activists, and more at the White House, presenting each of them with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Among those recipients was Ellen DeGeneres, who teared up while receiving the honor. 

As Obama embraced DeGeneres and presented her with her medal, the comedian and Ellen Show host teared up, and when a White House aide introduced her, he cited her decades of activism and contributions to pop culture, even referencing her beloved role in Finding Nemo: “Again and again, Ellen DeGeneres has shown us that a single individual can make the world a more fun, more open, more loving place — so long as we just keep swimming.”

From ABC News on YouTube:

President Obama Awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom | President Obama is finishing out his second term by honoring some superstars from the worlds of film, TV, sports and music. Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert Redford and Bruce Springsteen are among the big names who’ll receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on Nov. 22 at the White House. Cicely Tyson, Diana Ross, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan are also among the 21 medal recipients, as are Bill and Melinda Gates, sports broadcaster Vin Scully, and “Saturday Night Live” creator and producer Lorne Michaels.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to people who have “made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

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