“Full Frontal’s” Samantha Bee is launching the first annual “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” which will take place on Saturday, April 29, at The Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. — the same night as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
While the decades-long tradition is for the President to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner, it seems highly unlikely that Donald Trump will willingly appear at an event where he’s roasted. (Consider his overblown reaction to Alec Baldwin’s impressions of him on “Saturday Night Live.”)
There’ll be plenty of speculation about who will host the official dinner, but Bee’s name is now off the list. As a press release announced, the “noted purveyor of FAKE NEWS™ will host the [alternative] gala affair, welcoming journalists and non-irritating celebrities from around the world. We suspect some members of the press may find themselves unexpectedly free that night, and we want to feed them and give them hugs.”
“Executives at TBS offered their full support of the gala by nodding politely and then muttering under their breath as we turned around,” said Bee. “The evening is sure to bring plenty of surprises, music, food, and laughter — and if you’re not careful you just might learn something. Specifically, you’ll learn how screwed we’d be without a free press.”
Trump’s relationship with the press has been tense — and that’s putting it very, very mildly — since long before his inauguration.“Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” will offer all its proceeds to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a worthy cause in general, but particularly right now.
The press release hilariously specifies that the event is BYOB.
“We’re really doing this,” Bee emphasized. “This is not a joke.”
It’s unclear whether or not TBS will televise the event.