This year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is going from fizzy to flat faster than a glass of warm champagne.
The move, first reported by Axios, came after Vanity Fair, which had co-hosted it for years, dropped its sponsorship. And so ends the annual rite of wangling a ticket to the soiree, where Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors cozied up to Hollywood heavyweights. The New Yorker earlier scrapped its dinner-eve bash, with editor Graydon Carter saying he plans to go fishing rather than help toast Trump, who routinely slams the media as “FAKE NEWS.”
Other signature fetes are in limbo: Asked whether MSNBC would hold its annual rowdy after-party (where host Rachael Maddow often plays bartender), a spokesman said “nothing to announce yet.”
And a spokeswoman for Time declined to comment on whether the magazine plans to continue its annual party, co-hosted with People magazine, known for A-list mingling — and groaning swag bags.
Plenty of parties are still goes, though. CNN is expected to host its day-after “hangover” brunch, where bleary-eyed journos can rehash (or attempt to remember) the evening’s highlights. Capitol File magazine and the Hill newspaper are planning to party on as usual. So is The Washington Post, which is sticking with its usual pregame reception at the Washington Hilton.