White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Archives for May 2012

Rosario Responds to Brokaw and Defends Celebs at WHCD

By

On Sunday, NBC’s Tom Brokaw chastized the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Meet the Press by saying:

“…if there’s ever an event that separates the press from the people that they’re supposed to serve symbolically, it is that one.  It is time to rethink it… I don’t think the big press event in Washington should be that kind of glittering event where the whole talk about is Cristal champagne, taking over the Italian Embassy, who had the best party, who got to meet the most people.  That’s another separation between what we’re supposed to be doing and what the people expect us to be doing.  And I think that the Washington Press Corps has to look at that.  And by the way, I’m a charter member of the White House Correspondents Association.  I was there early on and often, and often enjoyed it.  But it’s gone beyond what it needs to be.”

Politico talked to actress and activist Rosario Dawson (MIB II, Sin City) who talked about how guests “aren’t just showing up on their own.  They’re being invited and they’re guests.” More importantly, they “are very much civically participatory.”  The WHCD serves as an opportunity for cause-driven celebrities to get in front of influential lawmakers and media personalities which may not occur otherwise.

Dawson herself is a spokeswoman for Amtrak’s National Train Day and co-founded an advocacy group, Voto Latino, which empowers Latinos to get involved politically.  In addition to attending the dinner, Dawson also is a regular attendee of the WHC Garden Brunch and this year jumped on stage with Willie Geist and Elle Macpherson and helped give away Jawbone Jamboxes to CURE Epilepsy and White Ribbon Alliance donors.

Jimmy Kimmel Calls White House Correspondents' Dinner "Cannibalism"

By

Ted Johnson from Variety and their DC web site WilshireandWashington, got the first interview with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel assessing his performance at the 2012 White House Correspondents Dinner.  Kimmel called the practice of journalists inviting stars like Lindsay Lohan and the Kardashians to the dinner and then making negative comments about them attending “cannibalism.”  He went on to say the room was difficult, like being “20,000 leagues under the sea.”

The assessment of Kimmel from attendees was that his jokes were too many and that he was just reading them.  Kimmel tells Variety that the president and first lady told him he did well.  Read the rest of Ted Johnson’s interview here.

2nd Annual White House Correspondents’ Awards

By

WHCInsider.com presents the second annual WHC Weekend Insider Awards to highlight the great deeds of the famous and infamous who came to Washington to party, schmooze, and most importantly – be seen – at the events surrounding the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

It’s the biggest weekend in Washington, second only perhaps to Inauguration, which you clever kids know from civics class only comes once every four years (and without as many brunches).

Best Magician: Woody Harrelson who entertained young and old with his magical card tricks in Mark Ein’s backyard during the WH Correspondents’ Garden Brunch.

Greatest Act of Kindness: Lindsay Lohan delighting 10 year-old David Greenberg by telling him that she has Herbie (a Volkswagen Beetle aka “the Love Bug”) in her garage and he could drive it.

Not Represented by Bob Barnett: To the most successful and famous celebrity who is not on Bob Barnett’s client list, yet.  Elle Macpherson, entrepreneur, supermodel, and host of NBC’s Fashion Star.


Triple Threat: All the Emanuels – Mayor Rahm, Ari and Zeke at the Bloomberg Vanity Fair After Party.

Biggest IMDb Coincidence Award: Lindsay Lohan and Ali Wentworth, who both starred in Herbie the magical Volkswagen Bug movies (Herbie Fully Loaded and Disney’s The Love Bug, respectively), on opposite sides of the lawn at the Garden Brunch.

Best Unplanned Introduction: Comedy hit-maker Judd Apatow told the New York Times that meeting Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, “It was like meeting the person who created fire.”

WHCA DINNER Alicia Keys, Harvey Weinstein

Most Gracious: Alicia Keys happily posed with admiring fans who told her that her music touched their lives.  She even snapped her own fan photo with Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Most Popular Human Rights Advocate: Rhodes scholar and WH advisor Ronan Farrow (son of Mia Farrow & Woody Allen). Ronan, don’t leave town!

Best Partier: George Clooney, who not only talked to everyone who approached him during all the festivities, but lasted until after 4:00 AM at the Bloomberg/ Vanity Fair After Party.

George Clooney Award: for the guy having the best time: Creative Artists Agency Executive Michael Kives because not only does he know everyone, he was also rolling with the beautiful and entertaining Kates – Sports Illustrated cover girl Kate Upton and silver screen star, Kate Hudson.

Biggest Sports Mash-Up: Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo talking XXXs and OOOs with Giants fan actor Daniel Radcliffe.

Favorite new WHCD Posse: Techies – Dick Costolo and Jack Dorsey from Twitter, Chamath Palihapitiya of Social +Capital Partnership, Hosain Rahman of Jawbone, Dennis Crowley of Foursquare, Mark Pincus of Zynga, Ali Pincus of One Kings Lane, and Brad Keywell, co-founder of Groupon.

Toughest job: Willie Geist having to work closely with Elle Macpherson and Rosario Dawson presenting super-hot Jamboxes to CURE Epilepsy & The White Ribbon Alliance donors.

Most Excited To Have Back In Town: Savannah Guthrie – is there anyone more respected or liked than this TODAY show co-host?

Best Repeat outfit: Politico’s Patrick Gavin who didn’t disappoint fans of his pink Argyle pants.

Best Liked Siblings: Georgetown Cupcakes’ Katherine Kallinis & Sophie LaMontagne for donating 1,800 delicious mini-cupcakes in support of CURE and the White Ribbon Alliance. Their generosity is endless and inspiring – have you heard of Operation Cupcake? They airlift cupcakes to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan every year!

Most Missed: Christopher Hitchens

Brian Williams goes inside The Situation Room

By

Brian Williams went where everyone wanted to be on the anniversary of the raid and eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden: Inside the Situation Room. In a special report on NBC’s Rock Center, Williams follows President Obama throughout the White House, recalling the events of the what Obama said is the ‘most important single day of my presidency.’
Watch a clip of the report below and learn how things were kept ‘normal’ inside the White House such as how they ate Costco and ordered pizza, so as not to alert anyone as they watched the raid unfold.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

More from the 2012 WHC Garden Brunch: Pics, Press & Perez

By

Here are more fabulous pics of the 2012 Garden Brunch guests and events.  It was such a magical day and the outpouring of support for CURE Epilepsy and The White Ribbon Alliance has been fantastic!

In addition, the press coverage has gone bi-coastal, with stories from Perez Hilton, The Hollywood Reporter, E! Online, Politico, The Huffington Post, The Hill and The Washington Post!

Hollywood Reporter: Inside the WHC Garden Brunch: Lindsay Lohan, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale

By

Garden Brunch Guests: Shawn Chapman, John Coale, Greta Van Susteren, Kris Jenner and Lindsay Lohan

“While their evenings consisted of boozy, black tie affairs, the celebrity circuit that invaded Washington DC this past weekend was far from nocturnal. In between two nights of clanking glasses at done-up hotels and restaurants (including THR and Google’s Friday night party), the big players took advantage of the warm weather to celebrate each other in the garden, too.

The 19th annual White House Correspondents’ Association Garden Brunch was held on Saturday and held plenty of star-studded highlights. The party’s organizer, Tammy Haddad, reflected on the afternoon in an email discussion with The Hollywood Reporter.

As was the case for most of the weekend, Lindsay Lohan, a guest of Fox News, drew major attention. But it was all tranquility for Lilo this time. The star met with top level officials in the Obama campaign, such as David Axelrod and former Obama “body man” Reggie Love. Lohan reminsced with Fox News’ Ed Henry about growing up in Long Island, New York, and told the son of Tammy Haddad, one of the event’s organizers, that she still had the car from Herbie Fully Loaded in her garage (the young man was excited to meet her because he had seen the movie about 100 times).

Woody Harrelson appeared with Steve Schmidt, the GOP adviser that he played in HBO’s Game Change (the pair appeared together at THR and Google’s party the night before); Harrelson wowed onlookers with card tricks, having casually produced an entire deck from his pocket. Kerry Washington, who plays a DC spinmeister in ABC’s Scandal, also got kudos for her beltway portrayal.

California’s top two leaders, Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, couldn’t have been more different; Brown declined to speak to the press, while Newsom, who now has his own show on Current TV, took any and all questions.

Meanwhile, Elle Macpherson showed MSNBC host Willie Geist that all the talk television experience in the world couldn’t give him the type of attention-grabbing abilities that she has; while he couldn’t quiet the crowd, they almost immediately fell silent when the supermodel called for them to pipe down.”