White House Correspondents Insider

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VARIETY Comes to Washington // TRUMP Cover

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Variety Magazine Cover --April 2016

Variety Magazine Cover — April 2016

With the White House Correspondents’ Dinner coming up this weekend, Hollywood and Politics is the topic on the tip of everyone’s tongues – it also happens to be the subject of Variety magazines cover this month.

A few years ago The Hollywood Reporter co-hosted a party with Google during the White House Correspondents weekend and this year Variety, a long time Hollywood entertainment Bible is following in its footsteps with its coverage and events in Washington. Lead political correspondent Ted Johnson and his Variety editors are co-hosting a party with the SAG AFTRA Foundation and the Washington Post to “celebrate journalism” on Friday night in honor of the Correspondents’ Dinner.

Variety 2016 WHCD Friday party

Variety’s “A Celebration of Journalism” White House Correspondents’ Dinner Party on Friday, April 29th

Jimmy Kimmel Calls White House Correspondents' Dinner "Cannibalism"

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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.