Here’s the first bit of news suggesting that this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner might not be a total drag: President Donald Trump has said that he won’t be attending the annual event. Trump made the statement earlier today on Twitter, as is his presidential wont:
Amazingly, Trump managed to make the announcement without taking any swings at the “enemies of the people” in the media, who’ve been overwhelmingly critical of his month-long administration. Multiple outlets, including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Bloomberg have all dropped out of their normal Correspondents’ Dinner festivities, while TBS host Samantha Bee has counterprogrammed her own alternative event.
Trump didn’t give a reason for his decision, but a number of critics have been quick to point out the pretty bad time he had there in 2011, when Seth Meyers and President Barack Obama pulled a comedy tag-team on him over his support of the ludicrous birther movement.