Stephen Colbert says he was disinvited from the former US president Barack Obama’s birthday bash after the guest list had to be scaled down.
Colbert made light of the situation on a segment on Monday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Here’s the thing: a hot ticket is what it was. But given the whole pandemic thing and the Delta variant, a celebrity mosh pit was maybe not the wisest choice. So Obama decided to scale back the guest list for his party”, Colbert said.
“He was forced to limit the invites to only his closest Beyoncés.”
He added a little later: “I know what you’re thinking: ‘So Steve, what was the party like?’ I don’t know, I didn’t f****** go. In the massive scaling back, I got massively scaled.”
Providing more context, Colbert told viewers: “We were invited. Honoured to be invited, obviously. Totally going. ... We booked a flight, got a hotel, then five days before the party got a voicemail saying they were scaling back. OK, message received.
“Once we called them back and said, ‘So are we cut, or is this just an FYI?’ they said no.”
Colbert said he and his wife decided to travel to Martha’s Vineyard nonetheless, given they had already made travel arrangements, which led to some confusion in the press as to whether he was still invited to the party.
“It just goes to show you, kids, that if you work hard, put in your time, and get to be the number one show on late-night television, you too can be disinvited from a cool kid’s party,” he added.
Obama turned 60 on 4 August.
According to photos, there was a large, white tent in the backyard of the 44th president’s waterfront property. Despite the “scaled-back” guest list, celebrities, media personalities, and politicians attended the party.
Many, but not all, who attended the party, posted pictures and videos. Erykah Badu shared a video from the dance floor, where Obama was dancing. Rap artist manager TJ Chapman photographed the party’s gold-embossed cocktail napkins, which read 44x60, representing the 44th president’s 60th birthday.
