WHCD 2018: Trump won't attend for second year in a row

President Donald Trump, for the second year in a row, has no plans to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 28, the White House Correspondents’ Association divulged in a statement Friday. Considering Trump’s current relationship with the free press, that likely won’t come as much of a surprise. And it’s probably for the best, considering Kathy Griffin, one of Trump’s less favorite people, will be there.

“The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment,” WHCA President Margaret Talev said. “In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners, and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy.”

You might recall controversies surrounding last year’s event when it seemed like Trump would attend. Major media outlets canceled their annual festivities and Vanity Fair pulled out of co-sponsoring the dinner over Trump’s presence. But the Commander-in-Chief, who even now continues to demonize the mainstream press as “fake news,” announced he wouldn’t attend. The same, now, goes for this year.

Michelle Wolf, a writer from The Daily Show who now has an hourlong stand-up special on HBO and an upcoming weekly show on Netflix, will host the 2018 WHCD. She promised “the types of jokes my former bosses would tell me we couldn’t do on TV.”

Griffin, who’s making a comeback since her controversial photo with a severed Trump head, grabbed eyes when she announced plans to attend the dinner as a guest of LGBTQ media outlet The Blade.

“Honored that I’ll be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner for the first time this year,” she tweeted in March.

White House Correspondents’ Dinner will take place on April 28.

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