Paramount chief David Ellison joins White House state dinner for Xi Jinping
Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison took a seat at the White House on Thursday evening, 24 September, for a state dinner in honour of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. He attended with his wife Sandra Lynn Ellison, according to Variety. The guest list ran to more than 100 government officials and business leaders.
Tech was out in force. Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella and Elon Musk were among those at the dinner. Fox News personalities Bret Baier, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters also attended, alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Cheryl Hines, and US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts with his wife Jane Sullivan Roberts.
Ellison's appearance puts a studio chief in a diplomatic room while his company is closing a $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros., as reported by Variety. Paramount has reached a settlement with 12 Democratic state attorneys general over the takeover. The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal was approved earlier in 2026 by the Trump Justice Department without any conditions.
The evening also carried a dispute over press access. The White House denied two CNN staffers coverage of Xi's arrival, with a press wrangler barring a CNN producer and reporter and telling them to speak to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. Staff from MS NOW were also prevented from covering the arrival, according to Variety.
That clash followed a White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from covering White House events. The three outlets filed a lawsuit over access, reported by Reuters, and a judge granted a temporary restraining order requiring restored access. Press passes were reissued on Thursday morning, then CNN and MS NOW were blocked again at the dinner event. Major networks had suspended pool coverage in response to the ban.
It is not Ellison's first Washington dinner this year. In April 2026 he hosted a dinner party in Washington, D.C. honouring Donald Trump and the First Amendment that was attended by CBS News executives and journalists.
The dinner itself followed the formal state pattern. The first course was a sweet yellow squash veloute, followed by sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy and roasted garden eggplant. Dessert was vanilla cremeux with a sour cherry confit centre atop walnut frangipane, plus ice cream made with harvested White House honey, according to details published by the White House on 24 September. Entertainment was headlined by tenor Christopher Macchio with US Marine Corps musicians.
What makes this stand out for Hollywood watchers is the setting. A studio owner more often seen on earnings calls and premiere carpets was in the room for a state occasion, with a generational studio deal still moving to close.
