Several news outlets are playing up an anecdote from Seinfeld creator Larry David reacting to his disinvitation to former President Barack Obama’s lavish 60th birthday party in damage-control effort to portray the hundreds-strong maskless crowd as smaller than it could have been.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd joined many Americans in lambasting Obama’s lavish, star-studded soiree at his $12 million Martha’s Vineyard mansion — as regular Americans face more restrictions over another wave of coronavirus. Dowd bluntly described the event as “an orgy of the 1 per cent – private jets, Martha’s Vineyard, limousine liberals and Hollywood whoring.”
However, Dowd’s column is getting picked up by reporters not for its pointed criticism but for an anecdote buried 14 paragraphs into the piece. The author reached out to actor and producer Larry David, of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, to dish on his disinvitation — a PR scramble hastily made after the planned festivities first drew the COVID-weary public’s attention. Team Obama said it would “scale back” the party, but leaked video showed nothing resembling an intimate or cautious confab for elites.
David told Dowd that when got a call from Obama’s assistant, he thought he would be expected to perform, and he wasn’t looking forward to having to think up a comedy routine within three days.
“I was pretty glum when I finally called back his assistant,” he said in an email. “When he told me I was eighty-sixed from the party, I was so relieved I screamed, ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ He must have thought I was insane.”
“Then I hung up the phone, poured myself a drink and finished my crossword puzzle,” the actor added.