Julia Roberts adorned her George Clooney gown at the Kennedy Center Awards

The prestigious event was attended by celebrities and political figures, including Matt Damon, Patti Labelle, Sean Penn, US Vice President Kamala Harris, Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Sacha Baron Cohen and Big Bird from the children’s show “Sesame Street”.

Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also attended the party for the first time since he was attacked at his home in late October.

Pelosi, who wore a black hat to cover head wounds sustained in a hammer attack at his home, received a standing ovation and President Joe Biden shook his hand.

Earlier at a White House reception, the president paid tribute to the “extraordinary group of artists” for their achievements and contributions to the arts.

“Thank you for showing us the power of the arts,” Biden said.

Quoting the U2 One song, Biden continued: “At a time when there is so much hate, so much anger, so much division here in America and, quite frankly, around the world, we need to remember today, as the U2″. , “We are one, but we are not the same. We have to put up with each other.”

The band was later celebrated on stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who sang some of their songs; Ukrainian singer Jamala sang Walk On.

The song was originally written to honor Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but was recently rewritten as an anthem of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

U2 singer Bono sang the song in Kiev earlier this year at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen mocked U2 for their partnership with Apple, resulting in their album “Songs of Innocence” being automatically added to the iTunes libraries of Apple device owners.

Borat spoke a few words in Kazakh, then translated: “This means: ‘Please remove your miserable album from my iPhone.'”

Actor Matt Damon Clooney, who starred in the film “Ocean’s Eleven”, laughed at him on stage. Damon said Clooney “stole documents from Bill Clinton and wrote notes to actors saying how much the president loved their movies.”