Earlier than friends may get inside final night time’s White Home Correspondents’ Dinner, they needed to wade via a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters who reminded them of the journalists who’ve been killed masking Israel’s battle on Gaza.
The annual dinner, nicknamed “nerd promenade,” is hosted by the group of journalists who cowl the White Home and attended by members of the media, politicians, and celebrities alike. However final night time, a big group of protesters have been additionally current exterior the Washington Hilton to greet friends decked out in ball robes and tuxedos. The protesters have been holding indicators demanding a ceasefire and an finish to “media complicity in genocide.”
The scene exterior the White Home Correspondents Dinner pic.twitter.com/JPnSYrpUtG
— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison) April 27, 2024
Movies posted on social media present the group chanting “disgrace on you!” and “each time the media lies, a journalist in Gaza dies” as attendees filed into the occasion. Protesters additionally arrange a memorial of what resembled blood-stained press jackets on the road to honor the Palestinian journalists killed masking the battle, with some laying immobile on the pavement subsequent to them, the Related Press experiences. As of Saturday, at the very least 97 journalists and media employees—92 Palestinians, two Israelis, and three Lebanese—have been killed for the reason that battle started, in accordance with the Committee to Shield Journalists, which provides that greater than two dozen journalists have additionally been arrested and greater than a dozen reported injured. (A CPJ spokesperson mentioned the group wasn’t concerned with planning the protests and pointed to an announcement the group put out previous to the dinner recognizing “the significance of press freedom for democracy.”)
The United Nations, and a few protesters, cite the next determine of 125 journalists and media employees killed, based mostly on the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. In an open letter dated April 15, that group and greater than two dozen Palestinian journalists additionally referred to as on American journalists to boycott Saturday night time’s dinner.
“We’ve witnessed how journalists throughout the U.S. have demanded justice for fellow journalists like Jamal Khashoggi, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Evan Gershkovich. It’s previous time journalists take motion for journalists in Gaza,” their letter mentioned.
The letter additionally echoed critiques that some Western media shops have proven pro-Israel bias and ignored the struggling of Palestinians of their reporting. “The White Home Correspondents’ Dinner is an embodiment of media manipulation, buying and selling journalistic ethics for entry,” it says. “For journalists to fraternize at an occasion with President Biden and Vice President Harris can be to normalize, sanitize, and whitewash the administration’s position in genocide.”
At present taking place exterior of the White Home Correspondents Dinner: pic.twitter.com/Pz1tcyWWWx
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 27, 2024
Most attendees appeared to disregard the protesters, in accordance with the movies posted on social media. However Caitlyn Jenner—who has been a vocal supporter of Israel and Donald Trump—appeared to interact with them, yelling, filming them, and flipping them off; this morning, she alleged in a publish on X, with out proof, that the protesters have been “terrorist sympathizers” and antisemitic.
Contained in the dinner, the plight of Palestinian journalists seems to have been largely ignored; it was solely talked about as soon as, in a speech by NBC Information Senior White Home Correspondent and President of the White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation Kelly O’Donnell, who acknowledged the tally of almost 100 journalists killed in Gaza for the reason that begin of the battle, in accordance with a video captured by Al Jazeera.
President Biden didn’t point out the rising humanitarian disaster in Gaza throughout his speech, in accordance with the AP; as a substitute, he poked enjoyable at considerations about his age and mocked Trump, persevering with a practice for the present president to ship one thing of a roast on the annual dinner. “I’m a grown man operating towards a six-year-old,” Biden mentioned at one level.
A bit later, he quipped: “Age is the one factor we’ve in frequent—my vice chairman really endorses me.”
“I am a grown man…operating towards a six-year-old.”
President Joe Biden jokes about his age and Donald Trump on the 2024 White Home Correspondents’ Dinner.
Watch extra: https://t.co/81NH5r3hg2 pic.twitter.com/2bD4ZOo9cl
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 28, 2024