Bono Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
The White House revealed the 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom who received the award today, including U2's lead singer Bono, KBE.
"The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, 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."
"Bono is the frontman for legendary rock band U2 and a pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty. He brought together politicians from opposing parties to create the United States PEPFAR AIDS program, and is co-founder of campaigning organizations ONE and (RED)."
Both U2 and Bono (born Paul David Hewson), have been subject to intense criticism over the last 10 years or so. The main public beefs seem to be that they're too preachy in concert, they're arrogant, overexposed and musically stagnant. The last straw, for many, was when U2 partnered with iTunes and flooded users accounts with their free album Songs Of Innocence on September 9th, 2014.
According to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald titled U2's Songs of Innocence: The most deleted album in history, "The insult from U2 is their sheer arrogance – assuming that approximately 500 million people would want a copy of their album, free or not, is highly presumptuous on their behalf."
Nevertheless, Bono has an extensive history of supporting charities of all different stripes, and who will ever forget "With or Without You", "Where the Streets Have No Name", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", or "Sunday Bloody Sunday"?

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