Pro-Palestinian protests aim to ‘shut down’ Biden, journalist ‘Nerd Prom’
WHIA- Washington Examiner
Pro-Palestinian groups and journalists are readying a rally to shut down the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday at the Washington Hilton over the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza-Hamas crisis.
“Shut down the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” one group, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said in an online message. They are calling for protesters to gather down the street from the hotel two hours before the glitzy dinner begins.
Another group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, is urging a boycott by White House reporters who suspend their arms-length relationship with Biden aides for a night of elbow rubbing at the so-called “nerd prom.”
“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an embodiment of media manipulation, trading journalistic ethics for access. For journalists to fraternize at an event with President Biden and Vice President Harris would be to normalize, sanitize, and whitewash the administration’s role in genocide,” said the committee.
“As Palestinian journalists, we urgently appeal to you, our colleagues globally, with a demand for immediate and unwavering action against the Biden administration’s ongoing complicity in the systematic slaughter and persecution of journalists in Gaza. We insist you publicly boycott the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 27 as an act of solidarity with us — your fellow journalists — as well as with the millions of Palestinians currently being starved in Gaza due to the Biden administration’s continued political, financial, and military backing of Israel and cut-off of funding for live-saving humanitarian aid,” they added.
It is unclear if the protesters organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation plan to march on the Hilton. The group has played a role in the public protests on college campuses this week.
One hint they do plan to march to the hotel is that participants have been encouraged to bring noisemakers.
“Join in shutting down the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and honoring Palestinian journalists,” said the group.