The Rev. Al Sharpton was honored in Ireland on Monday for his long odyssey in the civil rights world with an award named for “Ulysses” author James Joyce.
The civil rights activist, 62, traveled to University College Dublin to receive the tribute from the institution’s Literary & Historical Society.
Brooklyn-born Sharpton joined a prestigious list of other honorees that includes Nobel Prize-winning anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Irish politician John Hume and poet Seamus Heaney.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is another prominent American civil rights activist who received the award, picking up his honor in 2004.
Sharpton used part of his speech to students Monday to slam President Trump after his criticism of U.S. athletes taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
He said Trump’s calling NFL players such as Colin Kaepernick — the first to take a knee in protest — a “son of a b—h” is “the most despicable thing I have seen him do,” the Irish Times reported.