Michael J. Fox has been tapped to receive one of the Television Academy‘s biggest honors, the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, at this year’s Emmy Awards. The org announced the news Wednesday, noting that the kudo was “in recognition of his transformative contributions to Parkinson’s disease research and advocacy.”
Fox is already an Emmy nominee this year; he’s among the performers competing in the outstanding guest actor in a comedy series category via his role on Apple TV’s “Shrinking.” That award will be given out during the nontelevised Sept. 6 Emmys; his Bob Hope Humanitarian Award will be telecast on NBC (his one-time “Family Ties” home) as part of the 78th Emmy Awards on Sept. 14.
The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award was created in 2002, with Oprah Winfrey as its first recipient. The idea was “to honor a member of the telecommunications industry whose philanthropic efforts exemplify Bob Hope’s own decades-long altruism and positive impact on society.”
The Television Academy and the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation jointly find an honoree “whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry and whose deeds and actions have had a lasting impact on society.”
Last year, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen received the honor. Although it has been around for 24 years, this will only be the sixth time it has been given: Besides Winfrey, Danson and Steenburgen, past honorees are Danny Thomas (given posthumously in 2004), George Clooney (2010) and Sean Penn (2022).
