BuzzFeed Party Heats Up
For its White House Correspondents’ Dinner party, BuzzFeed brought its entire politics team to D.C., but one of its members was noticeably absent from the party.
Andrew Kaczynski, the prolific tweeter and Internet video resurfacer, skipped out. He was at the actual Dinner, the one BuzzFeed had failed to secure a table at. CSPAN brought him as a guest.
“It must be nice, right,” BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith told FishbowlDC that night. “He’s like our celebrity.”
Even without their own version of a celebrity in attendance, the party was packed with hundreds of people, causing long waits at the bar, but even worse: Long lines outside to even get in. Senior Press Director Ashley McCollum manned the mess outside. At one point the general guest line stretched almost 100 people-deep.
For Dorsey Shaw, BuzzFeed‘s resident TV news watcher, it was his first time down from New York since the publication celebrated the launch of it’s Washington bureau in early August last year. He told us he was disappointed that he wouldn’t have time to see the monuments and other sights but that he’d make sure to schedule them in next time he’s in town. (He ended up being able to schedule in some time to see them Sunday, we hear.)
What and who else did we see?
Chris Geidner, BuzzFeed‘s LGBT reporter, chatting up with Metro Weekly‘s Justin Snow. Snow stayed well into the night, telling FishbowlDC that the open bar made it difficult to pull himself away from the party. He spent a large portion of his time at the party searching for a BuzzFeed-esque sticker that said “Trashy” on it.
Justin Green of the David Frum Blog. Green told us Frum himself did not attend the Dinner that night. “He’s a bit bored with these,” he said.
Former Politico reporter David Catanese dancing near the bar, belting out different rap songs at the top of his lungs, including DJ Khaled‘s “All I Do Is Win.” He told us his 2016-focused blog, now just two months old, is doing well.
Cara Kelly, Style web producer at WaPo, capturing some of the best GIFs of dancing party goers (see one here). Kelly introduced herself to us, first saying that she was “crashing the party,” even though she had actually been invited. We asked her for a business card but she didn’t have one. “The Post is slow to give those to us,” she said.
Founder of the Washington Free Beacon Michael Goldfarb talking it up with Ben Smith and BuzzFeed‘s D.C. Bureau Chief John Stanton.
Americans For Tax Reform President Grover Norquist posing for photos with fans. FishbowlDC asked Norquist for his thoughts on Friday’s column by WaPo‘s Republican blogger Jennifer Rubin, in which she argued that Virginia Gov. Mitch McConnell‘s (R) recent decision to raise taxes in his state wasn’t not a conservative move. “Rubin is normally much more reasonable than that,” Norquist said.
Notables: WaPo‘s Jackie Kucinich and Natasha Ridnick, CQ Roll Call publicist Sujata Mitra, Newsweek-Daily Beast‘s Eli Lake, BuzzFeed’s Benny Johnson (who was jokingly — we think — trying to dirty dance with BuzzFeed Politiical Editor McKay Coppins, who wasn’t having it) and aide to House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) Rory Cooper.
Stanton and Goldfarb
Grover Norquist
Catanese, before getting crunk on the floor
Coppins, Johnson and Shaw a la “Mad Men”
A gecko that was swiped by FishbowlDC
Ben Smith opens his mouth.
McMorris-Santoro with Stanton, who is holding up what is presumably a glass of Jameson
WaPo’s Carra Kelly eyes her next vine.
