WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is honoring performers Ellen DeGeneres, Robert DeNiro, Cicely Tyson and Tom Hanks with the nation’s highest civilian honor.
They are among 21 people Obama plans to recognize with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House Nov. 22.
Honorees from the sports world include basketball players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan, along with veteran sports broadcaster Vin Scully.
Entertainers include Robert Redford, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen.
Other honorees are philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, polymath physicist Richard Garwin, architect Frank Gehry, designer Maya Lin, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels, attorney Newt Minow, mathematician and computer scientist Margaret H. Hamilton, and Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College in Florida.
Posthumous honors will go to Native American advocate Elouise Cobell and Rear Adm. Grace Hopper.
