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2025 White House Correspondents' Dinner Scales Back as Trump Boycotts Again

The annual event shifts focus to journalism scholarships and press freedoms, while political tensions and financial concerns reshape its traditional format.

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President Donald Trump at the the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner on April 8, 2025 in Washington

Overview

  • President Trump has confirmed he will not attend the 2025 White House Correspondents' Dinner, continuing his longstanding boycott of the event.
  • The WHCA has significantly reduced the scale of the dinner, canceling traditional events like Bytes and Bylines and the White House Correspondents' Jam.
  • Comedian Amber Ruffin, originally announced as the event's entertainer, was dropped from the program, reflecting internal debates over the dinner's tone and purpose.
  • WHCA President Eugene Daniels emphasized the dinner's mission to support journalism scholarships and First Amendment advocacy over its traditional celebratory elements.
  • Some journalists are publicly refusing to attend, criticizing the event as inappropriate given ongoing attacks on press freedoms by the Trump administration.