White House Correspondents’ Weekend Saw A Surreal Mix Of Celebrity And Power Players — And A Backdrop Of Protest And Disruption
deadline.comThe chants and shouts of pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the entry to the Washington Hilton for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but once inside, attendees were greeted with what has become the usual scene: Celebrities on the red carpet, a crush for the security line and glitterati packed into a cavernous ballroom. “I want to thank my wife for enduring lots of jokes and for agreeing to individually meet everyone in this room right after the ceremony,” the evening’s featured entertainer, Colin Jost, quipped about Scarlett Johansson, who posed for photos with a non-stop stream of attendees.
She continued to do so later in the evening, at the Comcast-NBCU after party at the French ambassador’s residence. The protests outside — now ubiquitous at any public event, much less one that mixes politics, the media and Hollywood — were barely heard inside the Hilton, where security was tight.
In fact, given the tumult going on inside the news business, the footprint of the dinner and the many surrounding parties and fetes reflected a bit of a desire to put on a happy face or just take a breather.
WHCA President Kelly O’Donnell told the crowd, “Here at home there are different challenges: Online threats, hostility vented at reporters on the job, and anxiety is about a paycheck.” That said, her message was still upbeat in that it made the case for journalists, and the White House press corps in particular, in a free society.
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