Donald Trump’s midday tweet Saturday announcing that he will not be attending this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner sent social media into a feeding frenzy, calling the media-bashing POTUS everything from an orange chicken to a “scared little b-tch.”
In recent years, the so-called “nerd prom” — a star-filled charity benefit for journalism scholarships — has become a showcase and lightning rod for pointed political satire with a rotating line-up of comedian hosts.
The event is known for celebs playfully poking fun at the sitting POTUS, who has always taken the jokes in stride and then ribbed right back.
Trump, who famously took the brunt of President Obama’s jokes at the event in 2011 but never cracked a smile, has had a decidedly more hostile relationship with the White House press corps since taking office last month.
So the president’s decision not to break a three-decade-plus tradition and not attend — announced on Saturday via Twitter, naturally — was taken by many on social media as a sign the president might be more thin-skinned than his predecessors.
@mskristinawong your life must be miserable if you have all this time to constantly cry
— Jake K (@jkort24) February 25, 2017
@azalben @stahrrc @realDonaldTrump up in his room, he pulls out star magazine to cry over the celebrities that don’t want to play with him
— #NotMyPresident (@ChandraMJordan) February 25, 2017
Donald Trump to skip this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner
Although the main course will be in his honor… Orange Chicken pic.twitter.com/enyNVJD07J— Paul Lander (@paul_lander) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump It’s ok. Sometimes I see girls from high school and get nervous too. pic.twitter.com/zkqWRoKxKq
— Kristina Wong ❄️ (@mskristinawong) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump What’s a matter!? Can’t take a joke/ indictment of your incompetency?
— Kristina Wong ❄️ (@mskristinawong) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump by not attending an evening dedicated to the media, you are saying that you are scared.
— Cole Ledford (@ColeLedford11) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump You should do something super nuts in the evening of the dinner and like release your taxes or something.
— Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) February 25, 2017
@mskristinawong @realDonaldTrump are you having some kind of rejection induced nervous breakdown? Or just capitalizing on the top tweet?
— NinjaMic (@NinjaMicWZ) February 25, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump Oh, honey. I’m sorry you’re so very scared of the press. Sometimes the truth hurts and we have to be mature and face it.
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 25, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump The good news is that if Trump wants to avoid places he’s being made fun of, he’ll never be able to go anywhere again.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump HAHAHAH…dude. You are only staying home because no one else was coming. Nice pre-emptive call.
— #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 25, 2017
@realDonaldTrump “I’m going to have my own party, with ice cream, and cake, and a bouncy house! And none of you are invited!”
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) February 25, 2017
Meanwhile, Hollywood is urging “Saturday Night Live” Trump impersonator extraordinaire, Alec Baldwin, to slap on the orange makeup and too-long red tie and step in for the evening.
https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/835613833372684288
Oh pleeeeeez Alec Baldwin go as trump at Correspondents Dinner!!!!
— Diane Warren (@Diane_Warren) February 25, 2017