Tom Brokaw Reaches 'Breaking Point' With White House Correspondents' Dinner -- Here's the Reason He Won't Be Attending

SILVER SPRING, MD - APRIL 16: Tom Brokaw attends the tour of the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Inter-Generational Center on April 16, 2013 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Credit: Getty Images

Legendary newsman Tom Brokaw declined his invitation to the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner for one specific reason: Lindsay Lohan. She may have been his "breaking point," but it was a longtime coming.

"Somewhere along the line, it began to freewheel out of control," Brokaw told Politico. "And the breaking point for me was Lindsay Lohan."

The troubled actress attended the 2012 White House Correspondents' Dinner as a guest of Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. Lohan apparently disappeared a few times to the bathroom for a cigarette and tipped an attendant $100 before saying, "You're too old to be doing this," according to Page Six's Cindy Adams.

The New York Post has more background on the annual celeb-filled soiree and Brokaw's disdain for it:

The dinner has been a tradition since 1920 for journalists who cover the White House and the President. Brokaw said in the Politico interview that he enjoyed attending the event in previous years, especially in 1975 when "Saturday Night Live" stars Chevy Chase and Jim Belushi made appearances.

However, Brokaw said that standards of the red-carpet fete have now fallen so low that his "daughter’s junior prom has more dignity."

The newsman has been vocal about his distaste for the soiree before. He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” last May, "Look, I think George Clooney is a great guy. I’d like to meet Charlize Theron. But I don’t think the big press event in Washington should be that kind of glittering event where the whole talk is about Cristal champagne, taking over the Italian Embassy, who had the best party, who got to meet the most people."

Brokaw also said there is now a "separation between what we're supposed to be doing and what the people expect us to be doing, and I think that the Washington press corps has to look at that."

The 2013 dinner will be hosted by NBC late night host Conan O'Brien and will feature stars like Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara and Nicole Kidman, according to the Post.

Featured image via Getty