The White House Correspondents’ Dinner will take place on Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m., where President Joe Biden and host comedian Roy Wood Jr. are expected to deliver remarks and humorous jabs to the press corps.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) hosts the black-tie event that has traditionally featured presidents and popular comedians mocking U.S. politics, current events and politicians. The dinner will air online on C-SPAN’s website beginning at 8 p.m. E.T. on Saturday and can also be viewed on C-SPAN’s YouTube channel as well C-SPAN’s TV channel.
This year’s dinner will be hosted by Wood Jr., a correspondent of The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
“It’s an honor to be a part of a long-running tradition of celebrating those members of the media, who work so hard to uncover the truth, and hold our government accountable,” Wood Jr. said in a statement. “It will be a great night that will go down in the history books, or not, depending on which state you live in.”
Newsweek reached out to representatives for Biden and the WHCA via email for additional information.
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A senior White House official told NBC News that the president will advocate for the release of detained American journalists, such as The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested and accused of espionage in Russia last month.
“You can expect him to speak to the importance of the First Amendment, how critical press freedom is around the world, and his unwavering commitment to bring home wrongfully detained journalists and other Americans,” the official told NBC.
Along with the president and First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglass Emhoff, will attend. Numerous celebrities are expected as well, including singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen, per Deadline.
In 2022, Biden became the first sitting president to attend since Barack Obama in 2016. Former President Trump boycotted the event during his presidency, and it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his lighthearted remarks last year, Biden joked about his attendance at the dinner.
“It’s understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of COVID,” he said, taking a swipe at Trump.
In addition to joking about his low-approval ratings and age, Biden also told several self-deprecating quips at the event, where 2,600 politicians, journalists, celebrities and guests were in attendance.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner often gives the sitting president an opportunity to poke fun at themselves and political opponents. Saturday’s event may provide Biden, who announced his White House reelection bid on Tuesday, with some comedic relief as he faces low approval ratings.
Founded in 1914, the WHCA promotes “excellence in journalism as well as journalism education,” working “to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency,” according to the organization.
Winners of the WHCA’s annual awards for excellence in journalism are celebrated at the event, which dates to 1921.
