--- title: President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities description: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle hosted a farewell party on Friday night, and celebrities flocked to the White House canonical: https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-07T18:45:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:36:10.118Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities to White House og:description: John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Meryl Streep and George Clooney were among the guests og:url: https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities to White House twitter:description: John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Meryl Streep and George Clooney were among the guests twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities to White House > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 7, 2017 6:45 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 7, 2017 6:45 PM UTC President Barack Obama and [First Lady Michelle Obama](http://time.com/4626173/michelle-obama-hope-final-first-lady-remarks/) hosted a farewell party on Friday night, and celebrities flocked to the White House for the event. Attendees included Solange Knowles, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Jerry Seinfeld, Nick Jonas, Jordin Sparks, Usher, Kelly Rowland, La La Anthony, Jay Pharoah and Chance the Rapper, according to celebrity posts on social media. “The sound check of life,” Knowles captioned a photo that showed her performing at the event. “Was truly the ultimate, ultimate honor. Can’t even put into words. Really. We will miss your excellence, your grace, and the phenomenal legacy you have let us all share.” The A-list affair stood in contrast to the [upcoming inauguration](http://time.com/4623995/donald-trump-inauguration-protests/?iid=sr-link1) of [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4626515/donald-trump-intelligence-meeting-russia-hacks/), who has struggled to find [entertainers willing to perform](http://time.com/4609263/celebrities-on-donald-trump-inauguration-performance/) at the event. Meryl Streep, Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks, George and Amal Clooney, Stevie Wonder, Robert De Niro, George Lucas, Lena Dunham, David Letterman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Rock, Tyler Perry, Jason Sudeikis, Jon Hamm and Tracy Ellis Ross were also spotted arriving, [according to CNN reporter Betsy Klein](https://twitter.com/betsy%5Fklein/status/817542578564460549). _Vogue_ editor Anna Wintour—who, on the same day, met with Trump during his visit to Condé Nast—and chef José Andrés, who is in the middle of a legal dispute with Trump, also attended. > [](https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/817514411363540992) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/"},"headline":"President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities to White House","datePublished":"2017-01-07T18:45:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:36:10.118Z","description":"John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Meryl Streep and George and Amal Clooney were among the guests","url":"https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/","keywords":["Barack Obama","celebrities","White House","Michelle Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4627311/obama-farewell-party-celebrities/","name":"President Obama's Farewell Party Draws Dozens of Celebrities to White House"}}]}] ```