Denzel Washington Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

He joined Magic Johnson, Bill Nye, Bono, and others.

January 5, 2025

President Joe Biden awards Denzel Washington the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Other recipients are seated in the background.

(Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

Denzel Washington is one of nineteen celebrities that has been honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.

In a video of Washington receiving the highest civilian honor, he holds the medal to his neck, nearly emotional, as Biden fastens it. Afterward, Washington turns around and embraces the president.

Washington joined 18 other people across the worlds of culture, activism, and politics to receive the honor, chosen because they are “good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”

Bono, the legendary lead vocalist of U2, received the medal as well as Vogue’s longtime editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Billionaire George Soros, Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Inter Miami soccer star Lionel Messi were also some of the major names to take home the medal.

It wasn’t just celebrities that were honored though — people like American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr., former Kennedy Center chair David Rubenstein, Word Central Kitchen chef José Andres, and British conservationist Jane Goodall also received medals.

Civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and former Michigan Governor George W Romney also received the medal posthumously.