Barack Obama
Barack Obama wins Emmy for narrating national parks series
Barack Obama is halfway to an EGOT.
The former president won an Emmy Award on Saturday to go with his two Grammys.
Obama won the best narrator Emmy for his work on the Netflix documentary series, “Our Great National Parks.”
The five-part show, which features national parks from around the globe, is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, “Higher Ground.”
Also read: Michelle Obama’s book ‘The Light We Carry’ coming this fall
He was the biggest name in a category full of famous nominees for the award handed out at Saturday night's Creative Arts Emmys, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Attenborough and Lupita Nyong'o.
Barack Obama is the second president to have an Emmy. Dwight D. Eisenhower was given a special Emmy Award in 1956.
Barack Obama previously won Grammy Awards for his audiobook reading of two of his memoirs, “The Audacity of Hope” and “A Promised Land.” Michelle Obama won her own Grammy for reading her audiobook in 2020.
EGOT refers to a special category of entertainers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. To date, 17 people have done it.
Also read: Obama appeals to young activists to stay in climate fight
The late Chadwick Boseman also won an Emmy for his voice work on Saturday. The “Black Panther” actor won for outstanding character voiceover for the Disney+ and Marvel Studios animated show “What If...?"
On the show, Boseman voiced his “Black Panther” character T'Challa in an alternate universe where he becomes Star-Lord from “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
It was one of the last projects for Boseman, who died in 2020 of colon cancer at age 43.
2 years ago
Kid reporter who interviewed Obama at White House dies at 23
The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says.
Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. Further details were not released. He had been studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia.
Weaver was 11 when he interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed.
Weaver then asked Obama to be his “homeboy,” saying then-Vice President Joe Biden had already accepted.
“Absolutely,” a smiling Obama said, shaking the boy’s hand.
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He used that meeting to later interview Oprah Winfrey and athletes like Dwyane Wade.
“He was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent,” Hardy said. “Very outspoken, outgoing. He never said no to anybody.”
Weaver got his start in fifth grade when he volunteered for the school newscast at K.E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary in a farm community on the shores of Lake Okeechobee.
“Damon was the kid who ran after me in the hall to tell me he was interested,” his teacher, Brian Zimmerman, told the Post in 2016. “And right away, I just saw the potential for the way he was on camera. You could see his personality come through. He wasn’t nervous being on camera.”
3 years ago
Biden aims for unifying speech at daunting moment for US
President-elect Joe Biden will take the stage for his inaugural address at perhaps the most difficult starting point for a president since Franklin Roosevelt began his first term by assuring a nation scarred by the Great Depression that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
3 years ago
India's Congress slams President Obama for calling Rahul Gandhi 'nervous leader'
India's main opposition Congress party on Friday came down heavily on former US President Barack Obama for referring to Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi as a "nervous" leader in his newly published political memoir.
4 years ago
Ex-President Obama steps forward as US confronts historic crises
At a time when the US stands in front of a confluence of historic crises, former President Barack Obama has started stepping forward, emerging from his political hibernation and taking on an increasingly public role.
The US has been rocked by a series of crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election, reports AP.
Obama is signalling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald Trump, and fill what many Democrats see as a national leadership void. On Wednesday, he held a virtual town hall event with young people to discuss policing and the civil unrest that has followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
4 years ago
Obama slams US coronavirus response
Former president Barack Obama on Saturday came down heavily on the US leadership’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak as the country tops the list with most confirmed cases and deaths.
4 years ago
Obama panel celebrates off-court work of NBA stars
Giannis Antetokounmpo is passionate about helping children in Greece and Africa. Kevin Love is trying to shine the brightest light he can on mental health by sharing his own struggles. Chris Paul is aiming to ensure that technology comes to schools where it hasn't been affordable.
4 years ago
Biden tells NH Democrats that Buttigieg 'not a Barack Obama'
Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg's experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: "This guy's not a Barack Obama."
4 years ago
Trump blames White House air conditioning on Obama
Washington, July 27 (AP/UNB) — In President Donald Trump's view, even the inadequate air conditioning at the White House is Barack Obama's fault.
5 years ago