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Tuesday 10 August 2021

Will THIS get more Americans vaccinated? Jen Psaki resorts to 'Gen Z' TikTok influencer Benny Drama to encourage vaccinations with video of him in a skirt and long nails as a White House 'intern'

 In a bid to promote Covid-19 vaccines among young people, the White House has recruited Gen Z TikTok influencers, one who dropped another spoof video on Monday. 

Benito Skinner, a comedian whose TikTok handle is @bennydrama7 and boasts over 845,000 followers, posted a video Monday which featured 'A day in my life as a White House intern <3,' after the trend popular on the social media app. 

The video was also posted to Instagram and Twitter.  

Skinner, flashing long white nails and dressed in a multi-patterned suit as he talks on the phone, says 'One sec, Democracy is calling, see you daddy.' 

In another moment, he walks down the hallway shouting, 'We did it, Joe,' imitating the viral clip of Vice President Kamala Harris calling President Biden to say the same thing after their White House win. 

In another, Skinner enters White House press secretary Jen Psaki's office 'Jenny, I booked you a nail appointment love,' he says. 'I didn't tell you to do that,' Psaki says. 'It's called initiative,' Skinner says. 


Benito Skinner, above, whose TikTok handle is @bennydrama7 and boasts over 845,000 followers, posted a comedic video Monday which featured 'A day in my life as a White House intern

Benito Skinner, above, whose TikTok handle is @bennydrama7 and boasts over 845,000 followers, posted a comedic video Monday which featured 'A day in my life as a White House intern <3,'

Skinner, above, boasts over 845,000 followers on TikTok alone

Skinner, above, boasts over 845,000 followers on TikTok alone 

In another moment, he walks down the hallway shouting, 'We did it, Joe,' imitating the viral clip of Vice President Kamala Harris calling President Biden to say the same thing after their White House win

In another moment, he walks down the hallway shouting, 'We did it, Joe,' imitating the viral clip of Vice President Kamala Harris calling President Biden to say the same thing after their White House win

In another, Skinner enters White House press secretary Jen Psaki's office 'Jenny, I booked you a nail appointment love. 'I didn't tell you to do that,' Psaki, above, responds

In another, Skinner enters White House press secretary Jen Psaki's office 'Jenny, I booked you a nail appointment love. 'I didn't tell you to do that,' Psaki, above, responds 

Later in the clip, Psaki tells Skinner: 'We’ve come a long way in our fight against this virus. We’ve vaccinated 160 million Americans-- are you getting this all down?' 

In another shot where Skinner is seated with his feet up on the desk, he says, 'We need to get shots in the arms of every single American.' 

The video was filmed on July 20, a White House official told DailyMail.com, before mask requirements were reinstated. The official said Skinner 'cares deeply' about getting people vaccinated and has a huge reach with Gen Z. 

Skinner is set to post more photos from his White House visit on Tuesday as he continues to highlight vaccinations.  

'Is Olivia Rodrigo still here?' Skinner asks at one point. 

In July Psaki invited the 18-year-old pop sensation up to the podium to brief the media on the importance of vaccines ahead of her meeting with President Biden and Dr. Fauci. 

The video drew some jeering on social media.  

Next they're going to waterboard you till you get vaccinated, though there's no way that would be worse than watching this!!!' Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter. 

'I've had my vaccine and I regret my decision,' one Twitter user replied. 'This video gave me breakthrough Covid,' replied another. 

Rodrigo's appearance at the White House had been another effort to utilize social media power to reach Gen Z. 

Rodrigo boasts a weighty 25 million followers across her TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram and has earned quite the star status in recent months following the viral success of her debut single, Driver's License, which she followed up with the release of her number one album, Sour, earlier this year.


'First I want to say I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of COVID vaccinations,' she said.

'I am in awe of the work that President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and I am happy to help them by supporting this important initiative.'

The TikTok was released the same day as Psaki was featured in a glowing Vogue profile, where the press secretary describes how she hates to be called 'nice.'

'It is like nails on a chalkboard,' she said. 'And it still happens. I was introduced to a foreign delegation in the hallway the other day as 'This is Jen. You may have seen her do the briefings. She's a really nice person.' I'm like, really? You can't think of a better description?'

She called the word 'sexist and a little diminishing,' adding 'it's also this desire to put people in a box. Yes, sometimes I'm friendly and joyful, and sometimes I'm tough, and sometimes I'm straightforward.'

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