WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Actor George Clooney, singer-songwriter Amy Grant, singer Gladys Knight, composer Tania León and rock group U2 have been celebrated on Sunday for his or her contributions to the humanities at a White Home reception and a music-filled Kennedy Middle Honors present.
The Kennedy Middle occasion, now in its forty fifth 12 months, acknowledges stars from music, stage and display for his or her contributions to American tradition.
At a reception for the 5 honorees on the White Home, President Joe Biden addressed every artist personally, praising their particular person abilities and saying they embodied the spirit of the nation.
“Tonight, we have a good time a very distinctive … group of artists who embody the very spirit of ‘We the Individuals,’” Biden stated.
The room was filled with celebrities, the White Home’s second star-studded occasion in latest days.
Actors Julia Roberts and Matt Damon have been seated subsequent to one another, in entrance of journalist Katie Couric. Former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was overwhelmed defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was seated subsequent to singer Eddie Vedder within the entrance row.
Contained in the Kennedy Middle opera home the place the present was later held, Home of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul, who has been recovering after he was attacked in October of their San Francisco residence, appeared in a balcony and acquired a standing ovation after they have been acknowledged from the stage by David Rubenstein, the Kennedy Middle’s chairman.
The present highlighted the 5 artists’ work, and represented a return to the instances earlier than the coronavirus pandemic started; on Sunday evening, there was no requirement for testing or masking to attend, although many proceed to die of the illness in the USA.
Clooney, an actor and filmmaker who performed a physician on the favored NBC tv present “ER” earlier than launching a film profession that earned him two Academy Awards, stated changing into a Kennedy Middle honoree was a little bit daunting.
“I grew up in a little bit city in Kentucky and I watched it on TV,” Clooney advised reporters concerning the Kennedy Middle Honors, referencing earlier winners Jimmy Stewart and Robert Redford. “That is an thrilling fraternity to be part of.”
Roberts and Clooney’s father, Nick, together with actors Damon, Don Cheadle and Richard Sort appeared on the Kennedy Middle stage to honor the filmmaker. “George’s greatest and most vital work continues to be forward of him,” his father stated.
Roberts, who has co-starred in a number of movies with Clooney, wore a floor-length robe with framed pictures of him on it.
“CRAFTED MOMENTS IN TIME”
Grant rose to prominence as a up to date Christian music singer who later crossed over to pop stardom, amassing six Grammy Awards.
“I really feel giddy,” she stated on the purple carpet on the Kennedy Middle earlier than the present. “Largely I really feel a debt of gratitude,” for all of the individuals who have labored along with her for 4 many years, she stated. “Every thing takes a village.”
Singers Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, CeCe Winans and BeBe Winans have been among the many artists who celebrated Grant with a choice of her songs.
Knight, who has received seven Grammy Awards, is known for hit songs together with “I Heard It Via the Grapevine” and “Midnight Prepare to Georgia” because the lead singer of The Pips, which turned Gladys Knight & The Pips in 1962.
“She connects with you on a deeper, religious degree,” stated actor LL Cool J, talking onstage about Knight. Singers together with Garth Brooks and Patti LaBelle carried out a few of Knight’s songs.
Cuban-born León is a conductor in addition to a composer, whose orchestral piece “Stride” received the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
“Tania’s items … are crafted moments in time, impressed by artwork and historical past and nature,” stated composer and opera singer Alicia Corridor Moran. She and husband Jason Moran, together with cellist Sterling Elliott, carried out “Oh Yemanja” by León.
The ultimate tribute of the night went to Irish band U2 which, with members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., has received 22 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2005.
Sacha Baron Cohen, enjoying his alter ego character Borat, quipped on stage that he was on the lookout for former President Donald Trump and made reference to anti-Semitic habits by Ye, the artist previously often known as Kanye West.
Vedder carried out “Elevation” and “One,” whereas Ukrainian singer Jamala joined Carlile and others to carry out “Stroll On.”
“At a second when there’s an excessive amount of hate, an excessive amount of anger, an excessive amount of division right here in America and, fairly frankly, all over the world, we now have to recollect at present, as their track goes, ‘We’re one, however we’re not the identical. We get to hold one another,’” Biden stated on the White Home, referencing a U2 lyric.
Carlile famous the U2 artists’ and Grant’s assist for LGBTQ rights whereas representing their Christian religion to the world.
“When you’ve guys like Bono and The Edge and you bought folks like Amy Grant popping out in assist of queer folks in the best way that they do, it is actually courageous,” stated Carlile, a homosexual lady. “It is performed rather a lot for me spiritually.”
The Kennedy Middle Honors present shall be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 28.
Reporting by Jeff Mason and Daphne Psaledakis; Enhancing by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates
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