Search icon

News

25th Feb 2017

Donald Trump announces he will break tradition and skip the Correspondents’ Dinner

Carl Kinsella

Donald Trump has announced that he will break with years of tradition and skip this year’s White House Press Correspondent’s Dinner.

Trump, who has spent the first month of his presidency tangled in various skirmishes with the media, took to Twitter on Saturday evening to announce the decision.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!”

The evening, which is usually held as a celebration of the mutual respect shared between the media and the executive, often features a stand-up comedian who delivers a routine skewering the President and other top government officials.

However, Donald Trump has repeatedly made it clear that no such mutual respect exists between his office and the press — having banned several major outlets from a briefing just yesterday.

Trump has a history with the event — in 2011, comedian Seth Meyers mocked the idea that he could ever be President, saying “I heard Donald Trump is thinking of running for President as a Republican, which is funny, because I assumed he was just running as a joke.”

Similarly, the night was also the venue for Barack Obama’s famous “birth video,” another sly dig at the false birther rumours spread by the man who now sits in the Oval Office.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc 

Topics:

Donald Trump