--- --- # Usher, Janelle Monae, and Ellen DeGeneres Had a Dance Battle at Obama’s Birthday Party by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 7, 2016 2:54 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 7, 2016 2:54 PM UTC [Ava Duvernay](http://motto.time.com/4438223/ava-duvernay-100-million-film/) and [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4011575/stephen-colbert-cover-things-we-learned/) have something in common—they were both invited to President Barack Obama’s top secret birthday party (and you weren’t). Duvernay stopped by _The Late Show_ to discuss her new Oprah Winfrey Network series, _Queen Sugar,_ but before she would talk about the show, she had to remind Colbert that the first time they met was at Obama’s White House party. Turns out that Colbert didn’t remember their first meeting, because he was too busy showing off his sweet moves in an epic dance battle with Usher and Janelle Monae, as well as the President and the First Lady. If that line-up isn’t enough to make you long for an invite to Obama’s next birthday throwdown, that group was joined on the dance floor by Ellen DeGeneres, Chance the Rapper, and Sir Paul McCartney himself, who later told Colbert, “It doesn’t get better than this.” He would know, too, Colbert points out in the segment. Watch below. President Obama’s Birthday Party: Celebrity Dance Battle ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4481917/usher-janelle-monae-ellen-dance-obama-birthday/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4481917/usher-janelle-monae-ellen-dance-obama-birthday/"},"headline":"Usher, Janelle Monae, and Ellen DeGeneres Had a Dance Battle at Obama’s Birthday Party","datePublished":"2016-09-07T14:54:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:14.925Z","description":"Ava Duvernay spilled the beans on the top secret throwdown","url":"https://time.com/4481917/usher-janelle-monae-ellen-dance-obama-birthday/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","President Obama","late show","ellen","ava duvernay"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4481917/usher-janelle-monae-ellen-dance-obama-birthday/","name":"Usher, Janelle Monae, and Ellen DeGeneres Had a Dance Battle at Obama’s Birthday Party"}}]}] ```