Barack Obama's Star-Studded 60th Birthday Party Overwhelms Martha's Vineyard
Barack Obama's star-studded 60th birthday bash is causing some controversy after his guests flooded Martha's Vineyard amid the pandemic. During the party's planning stages, and as COVID cases continue to soar, Obama's team revealed that they were 'scaling back' the event, however when all was said and done, Martha's Vineyard saw a whole lot of traffic. The New York Post reported that attendance at this epic celebration far surpassed what most had imagined when Obama stated that it was reduced to just "family and close friends." In retrospect, the former President of the United States has a huge network of friends and family, and his definition of a more 'intimate' event than originally scheduled differed greatly than what the public had in mind.
Turning 60 years old is a milestone moment that President Obama wanted to embrace. A man of his stature certainly has a lot of people around him that wanted to share in his celebration, and his original guest list was reported by Fox News as having surpassed 700 names.
The moment these details surrounding his big bash began to leak to the media, Obama was immediately scrutinized. People began raising questions about why a man who has held a position of leadership throughout his life would engage in a special event of this size amid the growing case numbers of COVID-19.
In response to growing criticism, Obama scaled back his 700 person affair to reflect an event of 475 guests and 200 workers, but that wasn't good enough for his vocal critics. The New York Post reports that "an Obama spokeswoman on Wednesday said the party would be rolled back after an outbreak of the Delta variant in nearby Cape Cod."
As the party unfolded it was evident that some famous faces that had originally made the guest list were, indeed, stricken off. The likes of Conan O’Brien, David Axelrod, Larry David, and David Letterman were notably absent from the party.
In spite of having to chop some names, the party is still a 'go,' and local residents are not entirely thrilled. There have been reports that the visible structures of the event are designed to hold hundreds of guests, and many of them have already started to arrive.
Celebrities such as John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Beyonce & Jay-Z, Don Cheadle, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, George Clooney, Stephen Colbert, Gabrielle Union , and Dwayne Wade have been spotted on the island.
Local residents are happy for the potential for some lucrative spending on the island, which the region could certainly benefit from. However, the Delta variant remains a very real threat and with the pandemic case counts rising at such a fast rate, the risk is too great to be welcomed.
TMZ has also reported that the scale of this event is so overwhelming to Martha's Vineyard that "The Secret Service has been ordering people around and blocking roads," making it a very unpleasant situation for those not lucky enough to be invited to the bash.
Sources: TMZ, Fox News, The New York Post
from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3CnhE8t
Post a Comment