Elton John was presented the Legion d’ Honneur, France’s most prestigious civilian award. The ‘Tiny Dancer’ singer received high praise from the office of the French President for his ongoing work within the LGBT community as a gay artist.
Outside the Elysée Palace, Elton spoke to the crowds gathered in the grounds of the French presidential palace, as they celebrated the annual Fete de la Musique. He commented on collecting the award as “humbling”, and going on to say that he was “profoundly grateful” for the recognition.
Famed musician Sir Elton John received the Legion of Honor today, which is France's highest award, during a visit to the presidential Élysée Palace pic.twitter.com/xFENWGCpv7
— POLITICO (@politico) June 21, 2019
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank you, and the people of France, for an act of great generosity, and leadership”
The icon went on to talk about his ongoing support against AIDs, saying, “Like music, the fight against AIDS has been my passion for many many years,” John told the crowd. “And like music this fight reminds me every day of the extraordinary power of the human spirit”. The Elton John AIDS Foundation has garnered in excess of £310 million in the prevention of HIV.
As a part of his farewell tour in France, Elton had just last year announced he was intending to retire from performing, with the aim to spend more time with his family. The musical legend is bowing out with a three year farewell world tour, titled, ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour’. The last UK dates of his final tour were announced for 2020, including London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The Elton John biopic, ‘Rocketman’, was released last month, with Elton John and Taron Egerton responding to decisions made by a Russian media company who’d allegedly removed all scenes depicting men kissing and gay sex, due to the country’s law’s concerning “homosexual propaganda”.
John and the makers of the film released a statement together, as seen below on Twitter, saying, “That the local distributor has found it necessary to edit out certain scenes, denying the audience the opportunity to see the film as it was intended is a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in, and how it can still be so cruelly unaccepting of the love between two people”.
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) May 31, 2019
