President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor to 19 people in a ceremony Saturday at the White House, and Bono was among them. The U2 singer joined the likes of Hillary Clinton, Michael J. Fox, Lionel Messi, Anna Wintour, Ralph Lauren, and Bill Nye in receiving the award, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
The medal is presented to “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors,” according to a White House statement. The statement continues, “President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else. These 19 individuals are great leaders who have made America and the world a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world.”
The statement describes Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, as a “pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty.” He has been widely recognized for his work as co-founder of the anti-AIDS organization (RED) and ONE, an advocacy group fighting poverty, inequality, climate change, and preventable disease. In 2003, Bono played a crucial role in building bipartisan support for the U.S. PEPFAR AIDS program, which he has called “the single largest health intervention in the history of fighting a single disease before COVID.”
“Thank you President Biden,” Bono wrote on Instagram. “Frontmen don’t do humble, but today I was. Rock n roll gave me my freedom… and with it the privilege to work alongside those who’ve had to fight so much harder for theirs. And I want to give it up for my band mates – Edge, Adam, and Larry – without whom I would never have found my voice.” In conjunction with receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Bono published an article in The Atlantic titled “The Gorgeous, Unglamorous Work of Freedom.”
Bono’s honor comes weeks after the release of How to Re-assemble an Atomic Bomb, a 20th anniversary deluxe reissue of U2’s 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. In September, Sphere Las Vegas premiered V-U2: An Immersive Concert Film, which documents U2’s residency that marked one of the first events at the state-of-the-art venue.
Order the 20th anniversary edition of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
