Stars arrive on Martha’s Vineyard for Barack Obama’s pared-back 60th birthday party

This story has been updated to remove incorrect information.

Barack Obama had planned a massive 475-guest 60th birthday blowout on his sprawling Martha’s Vineyard property this weekend, but even after scaling the party back after facing flak from both sides of the aisle on its size, celebrities flooded the island for the gathering.

According to the New York Post, celebrities including singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen, former basketball player Dwyane Wade and actress Gabrielle Union, and actor Don Cheadle made appearances on Martha’s Vineyard this weekend.

The Daily Mail reported that Obama’s former climate czar and former Massachusetts senator John Kerry, who reportedly owns property on the island, was in attendance, as were musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kim Fields, and Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and their daughter Finnegan. Neither Joe nor Hunter Biden was reported to be in attendance.

Days before the party was scheduled, and facing pressure from political figures including Charlie Baker (who was not invited) to dial the party down, he decided to limit it to “only family and close friends,” according to his spokesperson.

A-listers including actors George Clooney and Tom Hanks, director Stephen Spielberg, musician Bruce Springsteen, director Ava DuVernay, and former talk show host Oprah Winfrey made the final cut. The New York Times reported, though, that DuVernay and Winfrey had pulled out of attending earlier, due to fears over the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19.

The Times reported that some major names who were originally invited received the boot from Obama’s team after he made this announcement, including Obama’s former Chief Campaign Strategist David Axelrod and comedian Larry David, who reportedly owns his own property on the Vineyard.

The Times also reported that most of Obama’s former administration officials were axed from the list. Others who were uninvited include late-night talk show hosts Conan O’Brien and David Letterman.

Despite the pared-back guest list, the planning was nothing to sneeze at: aerial footage of the Obamas’ Martha’s Vineyard mansion published by the Daily Mail showed a massive tent being erected in the backyard, along with a clear-topped “greenhouse tent,” a large temporary dance floor and outdoor seating areas spread throughout the sprawling 30-acre property.

The bash’s meat-free menu reportedly curated by musician Questlove, according to Bloomberg News, is said to include dishes like “Spam Musubi made with plant-based faux-beef and faux-pork and Eat Just’s plant-based eggs.” Other dishes are said to include “Questlove’s Cheesesteak Eggrolls, made with Impossible ‘beef’ and ‘cheese sauce’ from Perfect Day Inc., a Berkeley, California-based startup making dairy proteins without animals,” Bloomberg reported.

Though Obama reportedly hired a doctor to be a “COVID coordinator” and is requiring guests to submit a negative test ahead of time, one caterer told the Post they still didn’t support the scale of the soiree.

“His birthday party is insane,” the caterer said. “His bash is a nightmare to pull off this time of year on the tiny island — especially due to the lack of labor because of the coronavirus. What is he thinking?”