Last night marked President Barack Obama's last presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian award.
The honor, which recognizes the recipient's contribution to the United States, was given to 21 people, including Robert De Niro, Diana Ross, Bill and Melinda Gates, Robert Redford, Michael Jordan, Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres.
Obama's presentation to DeGeneres was especially moving, since it highlighted her struggle with coming out at a time when being gay was still not socially acceptable.
“It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago," Obama said during the ceremony.
"Just how important it was not just for the LGBT community, but for all us to see somebody so full of kindness and light. Somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor or our colleague or our sister challenge our own assumptions."
Obama readily admitted that speaking about DeGeneres' impact on America was making him a bit emotional, so he decided to tell one of the comedian's jokes.
"It's like Ellen says: we all want a tortilla chip that can support the weight of guacamole... Which really makes no sense to me, but I thought would break the mood because I was getting kind of choked up," the president said as the audience laughed.
Watch Obama's speech about how DeGeneres inspires us to be better "one joke, one dance at a time."