Anthony Fauci received the Portrait of a Nation Award and a display from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, on Saturday night.
The outgoing chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden received the award along with tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams, woke filmmaker Ava DuVernay, chef José Andrés, music producer Clive Davis, and civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman, the Hill reported.
Fauci, 81, was the only honoree to receive a stop-motion animation portrait display, which consisted of 19 drawings of him lasting five minutes long from various moments of the COVID-19 and AIDS pandemics. Other honorees only received still displays.
“I was awestruck by the talent of that artist,” Fauci said about the stop-motion animation designed by artist Hugo Crosthwaite.
“I’m very uncomfortable with this red carpet stuff. I don’t like attention on me and about me,” he added.
Along with stepping down from his chief medical adviser position this December, Fauci will also be retiring from his NIAID director potion at the same time.
Among the presenters and guests at the Portrait of a Nation gala included Hillary Clinton, Leftist billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, singer Alicia Keys, CNN hosts Don Lemon and Dana Bash, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Thank you to our honorees, presenters, co-chairs, and host @baratunde for the amazing #PortraitOfaNation Gala last night!
Come see the “Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees” exhibition in person now through October 23, 2023: https://t.co/gKjBdkHAyR
📸: Paul Morigi pic.twitter.com/SlXyUAgiIS— National Portrait Gallery USA (@smithsoniannpg) November 13, 2022
It was the first Portrait of a Nation Awards gala to be held since 2019, due to pandemic restrictions, according to People Magazine.
According to its website, “The Portrait of a Nation Award is awarded to individuals selected from the illustrious roster of contemporary Americans whose portraits reside in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.”
“Recipients have made significant contributions across diverse fields and have demonstrated a significant commitment to service, and the values of creativity, individuality, insight, and inquiry,” it adds.
The event’s sponsors include Chevron, Vanity Fair, and Nike, which is accused of using Uyghur Muslims for slave labor.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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