Perennially controversial dinner is back, with Trump set to attend, after a gunman derailed the proceedings in April.

Washington, DC – After unprecedented violence in April, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is trying again.

The annual – and perennially controversial – event had originally been held in April, but it was swiftly derailed after a gunman attempted to storm the proceedings in an alleged effort to assassinate United States President Donald Trump.

Trump has had a historically caustic relationship with the dinner, but had actually touted the celebration this year, calling it a “very good thing” and a “HOT ticket”.

He is set to attend its second iteration on Friday, though he will be surrounded by increased security.

Trump’s sentiment represents a sea change from his first term, beginning in 2017, when the newly elected president declared the soiree “dead” and declined to attend over the next four years.

Beyond Trump, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has long been a lightning rod for criticism among media professionals. Calls for the dinner to be abandoned entirely only grew after the April imbroglio.

Prominent journalists have questioned its purpose, optics and ethics, particularly given Trump’s pugnacious approach to the press. The recent subpoena of New York Times journalists has further piqued those criticisms.

Nicholas Lemann, former dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, called the event “Washington journalism as a Rotary Club meeting”.

The dinner with the president “is an outdated tradition” that “harms all of journalism“, according to Kelly McBride, senior vice president of The Poynter Institute.