George Clooney a no-show for this year's White House Correspondents' Ball

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White House Correspondents’ Dinner Less Hollywood This Year: Report

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday April 18, 2013 @ 12:15pm PDT

Scandal’s Kerry Washington will be there and so will Steven Spielberg and House of Cards’ Kevin Spacey but this year’s White House Correspondents’ dinner will not be attracting the Hollywood players of previous years says The Hill. President Obama is attending the Conan O’Brien-hosted dinner but George Clooney isn’t coming this year. The daily Congressional newspaper cites the big Tinseltown turnout for the recent second Inauguration, the lack of a good juicy scandal and the more frequent presence of Hollywood types in the nation’s capitol nowadays as the primary reasons for “more subdued” event this year.

Charlize Theron spoke at a congressional breakfast on AIDS awareness today in D.C. today and was a guest at last year’s White House Correspondents dinner but she won’t be attending the April 27 event this year. WME boss Ari Emanuel won’t be attending this year either. Neither will Fox News’ Greta Van Susteran who has become infamous over the past few years for bringing guests like Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian to the dinner.

Unlike the heavily hyped party it co-hosted in 2012 with Google to time with the D.C dinner, the Hollywood Reporter isn’t doing anything this year (This may be a cost saving move since the publication is thought to be up for sale). Funny or Die are also not having their First Amendment Party shindig this year. ABC News is still putting on a pre-dinner cocktail party with Yahoo! News and Univision on the 27th and Politico publisher Robert Allbritton is still hosting post-WHCD brunch on April 28 at his Georgetown home.

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UPDATE: Red Carpet arrivals included Gerard Butler, Claire Danes, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Amy Poehler, Connie Britton, Tracy Morgan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Josh Radnor, Tim Daly, Jessica Pare, Psy, Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens, Kerry Washington, Kate Mara, Tony Goldwyn, Ty Burrell, Aasif Mandvi, John Oliver, Rebel Wilson. As Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes just tweeted: “Am about to be in the same room with both my fake President and my real President at the same time.” And there’s this plaintive tweet from Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill: “Wondering if my husband will pay any attention to me on our anniversary since sitting w/ Olivia Munn and Nicole Kidman.”

Don’t expect much from tonight’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Bland to a fault Conan O’Brien is headlining for the second time. (He previously hosted in 1995 and underwhelmed). And celebrity-in-chief Barack Obama may adopt a more somber tone because of the Boston Marathon bombing and West Texas fertilizer plant explosion. Then there’s Tom “Get Off My Lawn!” Brokaw objecting to the presence of celebrities among the 2,700 who attend this annual glitter and power schmoozefest in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton.

George Clooney, Ari Emanuel and Charlize Theron won’t be there like last year. But castmembers of A&E’s reality hit Duck Dynasty will be along with Obama bundlers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Harvey Weinstein plus Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Barbra Streisand.

The clown parade on the Red Carpet begins at 3:15 PM PT. Barack and Conan start their show around 6:45 PM PT. Deadline will be live blogging. Check out some of the party scene over at Politico.

OofOof wrote:Thx Lorna for all these one liners. Loving them and I don't have to watch all the so-called reporters fawning all over the celebrities. Love you girlfriend!