Secretary of State John Kerry will speak at this year's Gridiron Spring Dinner, the annual white-tie event where journalists perform skits and poke fun at Washington political figures.
Gridiron Club president Clark Hoyt said in a statement via email that Kerry would be representing the Obama administration. Hoyt wrote:
I'm excited to announce that Secretary of State John Kerry will speak at the 2014 Gridiron Spring Dinner, representing the Obama Administration. I want to thank my Bloomberg colleague Al Hunt and Andrea Mitchell of NBC, who worked so effectively to get Secretary Kerry for our dinner. This represents a return to the Gridiron podium for the Secretary of State. As a Senator from Massachusetts, he was the Democratic speaker in 1999.
The Gridiron Club and Foundation, a private group founded in 1885 and limited to 65 of the capital's most respected journalists, is the oldest journalistic organization in Washington.
The club is best known for its annual dinner, which some view as neutral ground where journalists and politicians from both parties can blow off steam. Critics say it's inappropriate for journalists to hobnob with or mock the politicians they cover.