Outgoing US President, Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest civilian honour in the United States to 19 honourees comprising singer and activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, longtime fashion editor, Anna Wintour, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, actors Denzel Washington and Michael Fox, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren.
Others honored in this year’s crop are billionaire financier and left-wing philanthropist George Soros, former first lady, senator and US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, founder of the World Central Kitchen NGO, chef Jose Andresa and primate researcher Jane Goodall, a leading environmentalist voice.
Biden also chose to posthumously award a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Robert Francis Kennedy, better known as “Bobby” Kennedy who served as US attorney general while his brother John F. Kennedy was president
Also known as RFK he was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The honorees “are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world,” the White House said in a statement.
