A petition signed by prominent media figures, including Dan Rather and Ann Curry, is urging organizers at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner to send a message to President Donald Trump, who plans to attend the annual Washington, D.C., gathering for the first time as the nation’s leader.

“These are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis,” the petition says.

The first White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was hosted in 1921. It was attended by 50 men and didn’t include Warren G. Harding, though his top aides were in the house, according to the organization’s website. Calvin Coolidge became the first sitting president to be honored at the routinely good-natured gathering in 1924.

With few exceptions, U.S. presidents have since participated in the dinner, which includes jokes at the expense of commander-in-chief.

Trump chose not to join the party during his first term in office. He said in a March 2 social media post that this year will be different.

More than 200 journalists signed a petition launched by Society of Professional Journalists (SJP) on Monday calling for those in attendance to make the 47th President aware of the threat to the First Amendment they feel that he represents.

“The collective weight of the administration’s actions — retaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press — represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president,” the petition alleges.

Saturday’s gathering will be hosted by mentalist Oz Pearlman. He’s said it’s his intention to bring unity to the event. The dinner is usually hosted by a comedian.

Trump attended the event as a guest in 2011, when he was humiliated by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Former Trump adviser Roger Stone told PBS’ “Frontline” that moment likely inspired the former reality TV star to become a presidential candidate.

There’s been much ado about how Saturday’s event might unfold. Trump is expected to address the crowd.

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