On Tuesday, The Washington Post pulled out and asked its Gridiron members — who include senior political reporters and columnists — to skip the event. The difference with coronavirus is the health issue.”The Gridiron dinner goes back to 1885 and has been canceled only twice before: Once during World War I and once during World War II, according to Gilbert. Political sketches were performed by the journalists with various degrees of talent wearing ridiculous costumes. With the cancellation of the Gridiron dinner, there’s already speculation about the much larger White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 25. The annual gathering announced it was returning to its roots with comedians Kenan Thompson of “Saturday Night Live” and Hasan Minhaj of “Patriot Act” performing for a crowd of 2,500 Washington political and media A-listers.

Source: Washington Post March 10, 2020 22:20 UTC