President Joe Biden doled out medals – and a few jokes – to the delayed recipients of the 2021 National Humanities Medal and National Medal of Arts.
The White House hosted a livestreamed East Room ceremony Tuesday for the recipients, who included Mindy Kaling, Gladys Knight, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bruce Springsteen and designer Vera Wang.
The honorees acquired their awards about two years late because of a backlog brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
First woman Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris additionally attended the ceremony, which Biden opened with a speech crammed with quips in regards to the honorees. The president greeted Louis-Dreyfus as his “friend,” and requested the “Veep” star, through which she performs a politician within the White House, whether or not she “liked being president or VP better” on the present.
Biden informed Knight she’s “one of the best things to ever happen to music” and informed Springsteen, “Some people are just born to run, man,” a reference to the singer’s 1975 hit.
The recipients of the National Medals of Arts – the best honor from the United States authorities for advancing the nation’s arts – embody actors, comedians and singers. Other recipients had been artist-activist Judith Francisca Baca, philanthropist Fred Eychaner, Puerto Rican musician José Feliciano, Puerto Rican painter Antonio Martorell-Cardona and movie producer Joan Shigekawa.
The Billie Holiday Theatre and The International Association of Blacks in Dance additionally acquired medals.
The National Humanities Medal honors those that have improved Americans’ understanding and engagement with historical past, literature, philosophy and extra humanities topics. The 2021 recipients are poet Richard Blanco, anthropologist Johnnetta Betsch Cole, writer Walter Isaacson, social historian Earl Lewis, Native American research educational Henrietta Mann, novelist Ann Patchett, activist Bryan Stevenson, novelist Amy Tan, memoirist Tara Westover and novelist Colson Whitehead, in addition to the group Native America Calling.
Elton John blown away taking part in live performance on White House garden: ‘This might be the icing on the cake’
In September 2022, Biden awarded British singer Elton John the National Humanities Medal for his contributions to music and preventing AIDS, a illness brought on by HIV that assaults the physique’s immune system.
John stopped on the South Lawn for a present known as “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme,” a reference to a poem by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. At the top of the present, Biden introduced John with the medal.
The musician admitted to feeling blown away by the night and honor, saying, “I will treasure this so much.”
Elton John, extra stars return to the White House beneath Biden. But are folks listening?
Contributing: Bryan Alexander and Sudiksha Kochi
This article initially appeared on USA TODAY: President Joe Biden offers Bruce Springsteen, Mindy Kaling arts honor
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