United States’ President Joe Biden will find himself the butt of jokes and hit back with his own on Saturday at White House Correspondents Association dinner when political and media elites observe their annual truce.
This is a US capital’s social calendar landmark ritual, which takes place once again in the Hilton Hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot and nearly killed by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981 after he left from delivering a speech to trade unions.
It is to be known that the dinner institution had started to wither after it was first boycotted by Donald Trump, then shut down for Covid-19 altogether.
Strict Covid testing, frequent use of masks and a diminished attendance resulted in a relatively low-key affair in 2022. However, Saturday’s event is ‘completely sold out’, AFP quoted White House Correspondents Association President Tamara Keith as saying.
Keith, a correspondent for NPR radio, said hundreds of people had been turned away after tickets ran out.
“It’s post-Covid. People last year were pretty nervous about going into a ballroom with 2,600 people in it, and this year, they are climbing over each other to get there,” she told The Hill.
Other guests include Vice President Kamala Harris, who is joining Biden on stage in the same week that they declared their 2024 re-election bid.
The White House said that having both the president and vice president in attendance will restore a tradition last observed in 2016.
Hollywood figures, Washington politicians of all stripes and representatives of every media organization imaginable will cram inside Saturday.
As in previous years, a prominent comedian will perform, this time “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr.
With agency inputs.
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