President Barack Obama to Award Medal of Freedom to Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert DeNiro and More! by 7:40 PM PST, November 16, 2016. President Barack Obama has named the nearly two dozen recipients set to receive the country's highest civilian honor.. Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert DeNiro, Diana Ross, Lorne Michaels, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan are among the star-studded list of honorees earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom.