Bob Dylan won’t be attending President Obama’s meet-and-greet on Wednesday with American Nobel Prize winners, the White House said.
"Unfortunately, Bob Dylan will not be at the White House today. So everyone can relax,” Obama’s top spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters.
Earnest did not explain why Dylan decided not to attend.
The singer-songwriter has kept a low profile since winning the Nobel Prize for literature. He is not traveling to Stockholm to pick up his award.
The decision to give the award to the Grammy Award-winning musician irked some in the literary community.
But Obama, who is a Dylan fan, applauded the move.
“Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel,” he tweeted last month.
Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel. https://t.co/c9cnANWPCS
— President Obama (@POTUS) October 13, 2016
Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama in 2012 and performed at the White House two years before that.
