Vanity Fair, New Yorker cancel annual parties in Trump’s first year

Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter, who has publicly feuded with President Trump for years, said it’s specifically because of Trump that his publication won’t host what has become one of Washington’s most exclusive parties.

“We’ve taken a break from the dinner in the past,” Carter said, though he added that it’s because of Trump that this year will also see a break.

Natalie Raabe, spokeswoman for the New Yorker, also said the magazine will not host its own party this year, which usually helps kick off the weekend dinner celebration. Raabe did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner on Friday as to why the magazine made that decision.

The White House Correspondents’ Association hosts the dinner each year to celebrate press freedoms, pass out awards to reporters, and give scholarships to aspiring journalists.

The sitting president usually attends the dinner, which features a comedian who typically roasts the press and some of the politicians in the room, including the president. The dinner has drawn criticism in recent years for displaying an apparent coziness between the national media and the political figures they are supposed to hold accountable.

Trump famously attended the dinner in 2011, amid his questioning of then-president Obama’s birth certificate. Trump did not attend the dinner in 2016.

White House Correspondents’ Association President Jeff Mason, a reporter for Reuters, released a statement Thursday assuring that the dinner would take place per usual.

“We’ve received some queries about the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which will be the first since the new administration took office,” Mason said. “The White House Correspondents’ Association will hold its annual dinner on April 29 at the Washington Hilton. This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic.”