Recently the Academy Award winning actor was absent at the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House, where he was one of 17 people to be honored, after contracting the coronavirus.
“Denzel tested positive for COVID and so he was unfortunately unable to attend the Medal of Freedom award ceremony,” a rep for Washington says. The White House also confirmed his absence due to a positive COVID test.
The rep adds of Washington: “He feels fine.”
In addition to his long career as an actor, Washington is also being recognized for serving as the national spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs of America for more than 25 years.
He told recounted growing up in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where he said he “was lucky” to have the Boys & Girls Club to help “make me the man that I am today.”
“Too many of my childhood friends had little structure or guidance. Some had run-ins with the law and ended up in prison,” he said in 2018. “That could have been me.”
“My father was a Pentecostal preacher who taught me the importance of faith. My mother was a beautician who sacrificed to get me the best education possible. But I also had a local Boys & Girls Club with mentors who cared and gave me the confidence I needed to set higher goals than I might have,” Washington added.
Watch the interview here here.
