The war in Gaza spurred large protests outside a glitzy event with US president Joe Biden, journalists, politicians and celebrities, but it went all but unmentioned by participants inside.
Mr Biden instead used the annual White House correspondents’ dinner to make both jokes and grim warnings about Republican rival Donald Trump’s fight to reclaim the US presidency.
An evening normally devoted to presidents, journalists and comedians taking outrageous pokes at political scandals and each other this year often seemed to illustrate the difficulty of putting aside the coming presidential election and the troubles in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Mr Biden opened his roast with a direct but joking focus on Mr Trump, calling him “sleepy Don” – in reference to a nickname the Republican had given the president previously.
Despite being similar in age, Mr Biden said the two presidential hopefuls have little else in common.
“My vice-president actually endorses me,” Mr Biden said, highlighting that former Trump vice-president Mike Pence has refused to endorse Mr Trump’s re-election bid.
But the president quickly segued to a grim speech about what he believes is at stake in the election, saying another Trump administration would be even more harmful to America than his first term.
“We have to take this serious – eight years ago we could have written it off as ‘Trump talk’ but not after January 6th,” Mr Biden told the audience, referring to the supporters of the Republican who stormed the Capitol after he was dumped from office in 2020.
Mr Trump did not attend Saturday’s dinner and never attended the annual banquet as president.
In 2011, he sat in the audience and glowered through a roasting by then-president Barack Obama of his reality television celebrity status. Mr Obama’s sarcasm then was so scalding that many political watchers linked it to Mr Trump’s subsequent decision to run for president in 2016.
Mr Biden’s speech, which lasted around 10 minutes, made no mention of the ongoing war or the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
One of the few mentions came from Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association, who briefly noted some 100 journalists killed in Israel’s six-month war against Hamas in Gaza.
In an evening dedicated in large part to journalism, Ms O’Donnell cited journalists who have been detained across the world, including Americans Evan Gershkovich in Russia and Austin Tice, who is believed to be held in Syria. The families of both men were in attendance, as they have been at previous dinners.
To get inside Saturday’s dinner, some guests had to hurry through hundreds of protesters outraged over the mounting humanitarian disaster for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They condemned Mr Biden for his support of Israel’s military campaign and Western news outlets for what they said was undercoverage and misrepresentation of the conflict.
Many protesters shouted “Shame on you” as the guests hurried inside for the dinner, and at one point the crowd chanted: “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide.”
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with “press” insignia.
Mr Biden’s motorcade took an alternative route from the White House to the Washington Hilton than in previous years, largely avoiding the crowds of demonstrators.
The event itself drew nearly 3,000 people, with celebrities including Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm and Chris Pine.
Both the president and comedian Colin Jost, who spoke after him, made jabs at the age of both the candidates for president.
Jost joked: “I’m not saying both candidates are old. But you know Jimmy Carter is out there thinking, ‘maybe I can win this thing.’ He’s only 99.”
