The White House Correspondents' Association has canceled its annual event for 2020 after postponing the spring dinner this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jonathan Karl, the WHCA president and the White House correspondent for ABC News, shared the news on social media this Tuesday that the event was canceled.
“We’ve been working hard to reconfigure the dinner in ways to make it safe for guests and staff. But after consultation with medical experts, government authorities and our own members, we’ve concluded that it is not possible to put on the kind of dinner that promotes the best in journalism and allows our guests to comfortably and safely enjoy themselves," Karl tweeted out in a statement.
This year's dinner was supposed to be held in April with Saturday Night Live's Kenan Thompson slated to host and comedian Hasan Minhaj lined up as the featured entertainer.
Unlike most other commanders-in-chief, President Donald Trump has never attended the event, which has been called "boring" and "negative."
The dinner made headlines in recent years, like in 2018, when comedian Michelle Wolfe delivered a raunchy, profanity-laced monologue that included personal attacks on the looks of then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Some said Huckabee-Sanders was bullied at the event.
President Trump has not gone to the dinner, which presidents typically attend, since taking office. He has labeled the event "boring" and "negative."
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