NBC is in party mode ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner, with no less than four events tied to the return of the Washington black-tie bash.
ITK hears that rather than celebrity guests, who typically dot the dinner landscape as news organizations attempt to one-up each other by inviting A-listers, NBCUniversal News Group is going with top Biden administration officials.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director Bill Burns, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, principal deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice and Deputy CIA Director David Cohen are all poised to join NBC’s tables, which also include 160 other guests from NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo.
The four separate soirees hosted by NBC will lead up to the return of the WHCA dinner, which was canceled two years in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MSNBC President Rashida Jones will host a private dinner at D.C. hotspot Seven Reasons on Wednesday to celebrate the launch of former Vice President Harris aide Symone Sanders’s upcoming show, “Symone.” On Friday, NBCU News Group Chairman Cesar Conde will head up a private reception with employees in the network’s new Washington bureau, followed by another function that night in the same new digs that’s open to 300 invited guests, including lawmakers, executives and reporters.
The night of the dinner on Saturday, Comcast and NBCU News Group are bringing back their traditional correspondents’ dinner afterparty. The event at the Reach at the Kennedy Center will feature entertainment from Jaime Ferreira and craft cocktails by Diageo. NBCU News Group will also make a donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists as part of its afterparty efforts.
The party plans follow a near-silent social scene the past two years in the District amid COVID-19. Other media organizations have also announced big shindigs as they get back into the WHCA dinner game. Paramount will host a star-studded bash at the French ambassador’s residence the night of the dinner, with Drew Barrymore, BD Wong and Sheryl Lee Ralph among the guests expected. People magazine and Funny or Die are also teaming up for a high-profile affair on the eve of the correspondents’ dinner, dubbed “Washington’s Funniest Party.”
A promotional video for the Friday bash at the Reach quips, “Washington is a town of parties, but not fun parties.”
The People and Funny or Die event promises it will be “a party that’s actually fun. Finally, a party we can all get behind, but probably can’t get into.”