The two longtime friends appeared via a pre-tapped video, alongside Schwarzenegger’s pony and donkey
Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a surprise cold open to kick off the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner alongside an old friend — former Twins costar Danny DeVito!
The former Governor of California and his longtime friend appeared in a pre-recorded clip that began the annual festivities on Saturday, feeding Schwarzenegger’s pony and donkey pets while thanking members of the press for their constant pursuit of delivering truth to power.
“I’m very proud of all of you. And it’s not just me and it’s also Lulu and Whisky and my twin brother Danny DeVito, we’re all proud of you!” said Schwarzenegger, 75, as DeVito fed the animals crackers.
“I come over here and I’m going to get bit by a horse. That’s the finger, ouch!” DeVito, 78, joked, as Schwarzenegger told Lulu, “Good girl, good girl.”
Related:Danny DeVito Says Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Animals That ‘Just Roam Around All Over the Place’
Schwarzenegger and DeVito have maintained a friendship since first starring together in Twins in 1988. The two also worked together on The Last Action Hero in 1993, and Junior in 1994. Most recently, they collaborated when Schwarzenegger made a cameo on DeVito’s Disney+ animated series Little Demon.
Elsewhere in his video, broadcast by CNN, Schwarzenegger told the press: “You’re actually doing the people’s work. You’re the ally of the people. So never, ever stop shining a light on the truth and informing the public.”
The action star then tossed it to White House Correspondents’ Association President Tamara Keith, who led the evening’s festivities live from the Washington Hilton.
Related:All the Celebrities Arriving at the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and Parties
Schwarzenegger’s cold open came before host Roy Wood Jr.’s monologue.
The annual correspondent’s dinner traces back to 1921 and has historically been attended by members of the association as well as high-ranking government officials including the president and first lady.
This is the second in-person White House Correspondents’ Dinner in recent years. The 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger has in recent months used his platform to denounce a rise in anti-semitism and other forms of hate across the United States.
Following a recent visit to Auschwitz, the former governor of California pondered how “we stop this from ever happening again” in a 12-minute speech he shared on YouTube in March, noting he doesn’t “want to preach to the choir here.”
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“Today, I want to talk to the people out there who might have already stumbled into the wrong direction, into the wrong path,” he explained.
He also referenced his father, who reportedly belonged to the Nazi party, and “the broken men that I grew up surrounded by” in his home country of Austria after World War II, who “felt like losers” because they “fell for a horrible loser ideology.”
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