President Donald Trump to Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner Following Tension With Press
Celebrity

The president announces on his Twitter account that he bails on the event, following the tension between the press and Trump after the latter called news organizations 'the enemy.'

AceShowbiz - President Donald Trump has decided to bail on the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington D.C. He announced via Twitter that he wouldn't be attending the dinner event which first started in 1921.

Trump tweeted on Saturday, February 25, "I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year." He added, "Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!"

The sudden announcement followed The New Yorker's cancellation of its traditional kick-off party due to the growing tension between POTUS and journalists. Vanity Fair also pulled out of co-sponsoring its own after-party. Another co-sponsor, Bloomberg, told Axios in a statement that they would bow out of the party. CNN and MSNBC were reportedly considering sitting out the dinner, which is usually attended by the president, reporters from media outlets that cover the White House as well as celebrities.

Despite the mess, president of The White House Correspondents' Association, Jeff Mason, ensured in a statement that the annual gathering would proceed as planned on April 29. The statement read, "The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump's announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic."

Trump has been in a war of words against several media outlets and called CNN, The New York Times, NBC, ABC and CBS "the enemy of the American people," "failing" and "fake news" on his Twitter account on Saturday, February 18. On Friday, February 24, White House even excluded CNN, the Times, Politico, BuzzFeed, The L.A. Times, The Huffington Post and several others from a press briefing.

The dinner is usually hosted by a comedian who will roast the president, other political figures and the media. Several names have been hosting the dinner, including Larry Wilmore, Cecily Strong, Joel McHale, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. Meyers once roasted Trump when the latter was present in the dinner in 2011. Trump didn't seem to like the jokes as he said last year, "I didn't like his routine. His was too nasty, and out of order."

In response to Trump's announcement of skipping WHCA's dinner, several celebrities, comedians and journalists took to Twitter to take a jab at the president. Comedian Kristina Wong wrote, "What's a matter!? Can't take a joke/indictment of your incompetency?" Meanwhile, Dane Cook dubbed Trump "a p***y" over his decision not to attend the annual dinner.

Criticisms also came from journalists. National correspondent for Los Angeles Times wrote a sarcastic remark, "Trump boycotting the correspondents dinner is the biggest favor he's ever done for the media." Brian Shelter, a host and senior media correspondent for CNN, made a joke as he wanted Alec Baldwin, who portrayed Trump on "Saturday Night Live", to replace the president in the dinner.

Follow AceShowbiz.com @ Google News

You can share this post!

You might also like
Related Posts