The final White House Correspondents’ Dinner of President Barack Obama’s administration takes place on Saturday but the star power of the guest list is only now truly coming together.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
may not have attended the Oscars this year but they’re coming to the WHCD as guests of ABC, I’ve learned.
And there will be a bit of a worldsavers throwback to the 1990s reunion as well – thanks to Fox News Channel
Today FNC once again held on to their title as the tables to watch with the news that
Independence Day: Resurgence cast members like Jeff Goldblum will be their guests along with AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. MPAA boss Chris Dodd will also be there breaking FNC bread on April 30 with megastar Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier and other big names from Roger Ailes’ team. The 90th annual WHCD marks the debut of Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore as host. While 1996’s
Independence Daywas a breakout role for Smith, the star does not appear in the sequel, which is out June 24 from
20th Century Fox. Smith’s supervillain team-up pic
Suicide Squad opens on August 5 from Warner Bros.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may be staying away this year to save their best lines for the marquee slot in 2017 but in typical DC manner of fact melding with fiction, Netflix’s political drama
House of Cards and ABC’s
Scandal are back in the room again.
HoC’s Michael Kelly returns as a guest of Thomson Reuters at the nerd prom while Nerve Campbell is at one of USA TODAY’s tables at the Washington Hilton.
While it feels like the overall star power is dimmed from past years, ABC has stacked the Shonda Rhimes deck for April 30 with the TGIT EP a guest of the Disney-owned net. Powerhouse producer Rhimes is joined by repeat attendee Kerry Washington,
Scandal’s POTUS Tony Goldwyn and co-star Scott Foley. Pushing their breakout FBI drama, NBC News has
Blindspot star Jaimie Alexander coming as well as
Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and a lot of other talking heads. Priyanka Chopra, the star of ABC’s new FBI drama
Quantico, is a guest of USA TODAY in her WHCD debut.
No doubt like the comedic remarks and audio visual gags expected from headliner Obama and host Wilmore, big media is still finessing who will be bringing their Hollywood to the ballroom. In the meantime, here is the Tinseltown guest list so far – we’ll add more as we get them
FOX NEWS CHANNEL
Cheryl Boone Isaacs (AMPAS President)
Chris Dodd (MPAA CEO)
Vivica A. Fox (
Independence Day: Resurgence)
John Cena and Nikki Bella (WWE)
JC Chasez (N’Sync)
Ryan Kwanten (
True Blood)
Sela Ward (
Independence Day: Resurgence)
Jeff Goldblum (
Independence Day: Resurgence)
Cheryl Ladd (
Charlie’s Angels – 40 year anniversary of the show)
Gladys Knight
Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys)
Toks Olagundoye (
Castle)
ABC NEWS
Will Smith (
Suicide Squad)
Jada Pinkett Smith (
Magic Mike XXL)
Shonda Rhimes (
Scandal EP, among many other things)
Kerry Washington (
Scandal)
Tony Goldwyn (
Scandal)
Scott Foley (
Scandal)
Anthony Anderson (
black-ish)
Tracee Ellis Ross (
black-ish)
Kenya Barris (
black-ish creator/EP)
Whoopi Goldberg (
The View)
Joy Behar (
The View)
Paula Farris (
The View)
Raven-Symone (
The View)
Michelle Collins (
The View)
THOMSON REUTERS
Michael Kelly
(House of Cards)
Illana Glazer (
Broad City)
Abbi Jacobson (
Broad City)
Michelle Dockery (
Downton Abbey)
Von Miller (Denver Broncos, Super Bowl MVP)
Odell Beckham, Jr., (New York Giants)
CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NEWORK
Candace Cameron Bure (
Fuller House/
The View)
BLOOMBERG
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (
God Particle)
NBC NEWS
Jaime Alexander (
Blindspot)
USA TODAY
Neve Campbell (
House of Cards)
Priyanka Chopra (
Quantico) – NOT ATTENDING NOW
Gabrielle Union
(Being Mary Jane)
Alan Cumming (
The Good Wife) – NOT ATTENDING NOW
Rosario Dawson (
Daredevil)
Miles Teller (
Divergent franchise)
Kendall Jenner (
Keeping Up With The Kardashians)
Wendi McLendon-Covey (
The Goldbergs)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ed Burns (
Public Morals)
Christy Turington Burns
CBS NEWS
Morgan Freeman (
Madam Secretary EP)
Damian Lewis (
Billions)
David Nevins (Showtime President & CEO)
