President Joe Biden will honor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bruce Springsteen, Mindy Kaling and other artists and authors at the White House on Tuesday in a star-studded ceremony.
Biden, along with first lady Jill Biden, will present the 2021 National Humanities Medals and the 2021 National Medals of Art, the nation’s highest honor for artists, in the East Room, according to a White House official.
In total, 24 artists, authors and humanitarians will be recognized. The first couple have ties to many of the famous names being honored and several of the names in bold helped their 2020 presidential campaign.
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is being honored by President Joe Biden; she is one of his longtime supporters and (above) she and her son, actor Charlie Hall, attended the Bidens’ first state dinner in December.
Biden is particularly close with VEEP star Louis-Dreyfus, who formed a warm friendship with him after she starred in the HBO comedy about an ambitious vice president. The two performed together in a White House Correspondents Association dinner play in May 2014.
She also revealed that Biden called her after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017. She discussed that moment during the August 2020 Democratic National Convention.
“A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer and I was absolutely terrified,” she said. “One of the first people to call me was Joe. The real warmth and kindness from him on that call, man, I have to say, brought tears to my eyes.
She was also a guest at the Bidens’ first state dinner in December of last year, where she brought her son Charlie with her.
Springsteen performed at Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, singing Land of Hope and Dreams on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was the same song that Barack Obama walked off the stage with on January 10, 2017, when he delivered his farewell address to the nation.
And, during the 2020 presidential campaign, Springsteen narrated a Biden ad based on the president’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“This place stays with him,” said the rock star. These streets are part of him. This is more than where he’s from; it’s who he’s for.
Bruce Springsteen performed at Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021
Actress Mindy Kahling was a huge supporter and fundraiser for Joe Biden.
Kaling was a big supporter of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He even made a YouTube video of her and Harris making masala dosas (filled crepes) together.
The Indian-American actress was a huge fundraiser for her ticket.
Biden is honoring singer Gladys Knight after she received a Kennedy Center Honor in December. She sat with the president in her box at the ceremony and was honored with a reception at the White House.
Designer Vera Wang designed Jill Biden’s formal dress for Biden’s second inaugural ball as vice president.
She was one of several designers who designed merchandise for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign that was sold online to benefit his candidacy.
Authors honored include two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, historian Walter Isaacson, Amy Tan, Tara Westover and Ann Patchett.
Patchett, in 2018, hosted Jill Biden at his Nashville bookstore for an event for Biden’s memoir ‘Where the Light Comes In.’
President Joe Biden is honoring designer Vera Wang (top left), Wang made Jill Biden’s inaugural ballgown for Biden’s second inauguration as vice president in January 2013 (top right)
President Biden is honoring singer Gladys Knight, who was presented with a Kennedy Center Honor in December (above Knight with Biden and other Kennedy Center Honorees at the White House)
Judith Francisca Baca is also honored, whose murals tell the story of those who have not always been recognized: women, minorities and queer people; and documentary filmmaker Joan Shigekawa, who served at the National Endowment for the Arts under Barack Obama. In her childhood, Shigekawa spent 18 months in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans.
The Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn, New York. is being honored for his cultivation and mentoring of black talent as is the International Association of Blacks in Dance. The administration is also honoring the Native America Calling radio program.
Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization, is being honored for his work challenging bias against the poor and minorities in the legal system.
Other honorees include poet Richard Blanco, singer Antonio Martorell-Cardona, African-American historian Earl Lewis, Native American scholar Henrietta Mann, dancer Fred Eychaner, singer José Feliciano, and anthropologist Johnnetta Betsch Cole.
President Joe Biden, with first lady Jill Biden, award singer Elton John a National Humanities Medal in September 2022 when he performed at the White House.
President Biden previously awarded a National Humanities Medal to Sir Elton John in September 2022, during a White House event, “A Night Where Hope and History Rhyme.”
