Celebrities Line Up for White House Correspondents' Dinner with no dessert

[FrenchieCat]

The surge of celebrities attending the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night is sure to cause more criticism of the event as a star-studded extravaganza that overdoes the celebrity factor.

Hollywood types didn't like George W. Bush or his policies, so they didn't flood to the dinner during the past few years of Bush's tenure. Now that's changing. President Obama appears to have a very strong following in the entertainment world. Among those scheduled to attend this year's dinner are Jon Bon Jovi and Taye Diggs as guests of ABC; Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as guests of CBS; John Cusack, Whoopi Goldberg, Felicity Huffman, and Mariska Hargitay as guests of NBC; Tim Daly and Richard Belzer as guests of USA Today; and Sting, Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, and Eva Longoria Parker as guests of Time/People Magazine.

The New York Times is boycotting the event for the second year in a row. Times execs say the dinner is too oriented to currying favor with big shots and gives a bad impression of the media cozying up to administration insiders. This line of criticism is sure to increase as the guest list gets more attention.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/obama/2009/05/05/celebrities-line-up-for-white-house-correspondents-dinner.html
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No Dessert for Obama at White House Correspondents Dinner

By Joe Strupp

Published: May 06, 2009 1:42 PM ET

NEW YORK Would you invite President Barack Obama to dinner and not serve him dessert? The White House Correspondents Association has.

Attendees at Saturday's annual WHCA dinner will get no dessert, the funds being given instead to a local homeless shelter.

In addition, the WHCA, which holds the event to raise money for scholarships and other needs, is giving away its largest scholarship amount ever, at $130,000, according to Steve Scully of C-SPAN, a WHCA board member.

But despite the financial realities, the star-studded event still retains the glamour of both Washington power elite and Hollywood red carpet with the likes of Demi Moore, Tyra Banks, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Ben Affleck, and hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger among the guests. (A longer list is posted below.)

The $200-per-ticket price tag remains the same as last year and demand for tickets is as high as ever, Scully said. "Last year, we had to give back 500 tickets. This year it is more than that."

Scully said the money saved from the lack of dessert will be part of a $23,000 donation from the association to the So Others May Eat, or SOME, organization of Washington, D.C., which offers food, shelter and other services to the homeless.

Wanda Sykes, following in the footsteps of Stephen Colbert, Craig Ferguson and Rich Little, is the entertainer.

But Obama's remarks and any surprise presentations he might have planned for his first WHCA gathering remain "the best-kept secret in Washington," according to Scully. In the past, surprises involving the president have ranged from George W. Bush appearing with an impersonator to his wife, Laura Bush, shoving him aside and taking the mic, much to the delight of the crowd.

The event, which begins at 8 p.m., will be broadcast on C-SPAN.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003969796

[HopeOverFear]

1. Looking forward to this

[FrenchieCat]

2. I'm sure the President will mess up or something; eat some Dijon mustard....

or use the wrong fork or something. Afterall, we want to make sure the Republicans have something to write about for next week. :)

[HopeOverFear]

3. oh yes, or say something about the special olympics in his comedy sketch LOL

[Cha]

10. At least we know it won't be

a petit fours.

[SamCooke]

4. Wanda might be a lil too much for this crowd, I hope she does well

[Arkana]

7. Lewis Black did the Correspondents' Dinner once.

If he can do it and not cause controversy then I think Wanda Sykes can.

[Cha]

9. Stephen Colbert was a

little too much for the bush crowd but he did very WELL.:)

[PassingFair]

12. They should bring Stephen back for an encore...

[Cha]

13. They should! This time he

would probably do a schtick on Prez Obama and the PONs(party of NO) would think he's being serious..oy vey.

Or just a bow..that would be so coolB-)

[monmouth]

5. Somewhere I heard MSNBC was also going to carry it....n/t

[FrenchieCat]

6. Both CNN and MSNBC!

They love showing themselves......LOL!

Watch CNN announce with footage...."now...let's look at the best Political Team on TV arriving!" :rofl:

[monmouth]

8. Hahaha, wonder if Wolfie is going to be there....Egads, what are we

letting ourselves in for?

[Cha]

11. There were a lot of "entertainers"

who worked very hard to help get Prez Obama elected and I can't thank them enough.

I won't be around tonight but am looking forward to hearing all about it, later on.

We know who will have the complaints about the high profiles. Yay, John Cusack is going! Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorthea, who supported Hillary in the primaries, are coming too..one big happy Dem Fam.

Richard Belzar! Who can forget all the nuggets of gold he said during the nightmare years?