Olivia Rodrigo is sharing details of her visit to the White House, and the "strange" gifts she received from President Joe Biden.
The "Drivers License" singer visited the White House earlier this year as part of a campaign to urge youth to get the COVID-19 vaccine. She spoke to the press, released a PSA, and then spent time with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Biden.
Revisiting those memories during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tuesday, Rodrigo said she was initially nervous about the visit, according to Yahoo! Entertainment.
"The White House is just the coolest place. I was so nervous to go," she said. "But I, like, walked in there, and there is like all these plates that, like, George Washington used to eat his dinner on. And all of this crazy stuff. I was like, scared I was going to sneeze and break a priceless artifact. It was crazy. But I walked out, didn't break anything. Thank God."
During her visit, Rodrigo posed with Biden for a photo in which they are both wearing a pair of his signature aviator sunglasses. Asked whether they were a pair that Rodrigo received from Biden, or whether they were her own that she had bought from home, Rodrigo admitted Biden had given them to her.
"He gave me a few gifts," she explained. "He gave me those. He gave me some M&Ms, and he also gave me a shoehorn, which is strange."
It was at this point during the show that Kimmel could barely contain his laughter as he cracked a joke about Biden.
"Well, if you ever thought Joe Biden was too old to be president. Now we know he is," he said. "He is giving out shoehorns."
In the PSA that Rodrigo recorded with Biden and Fauci, the pop star pleaded with youth to get vaccinated.
"It doesn't matter if you're young and healthy, getting the vaccine is about protecting yourself, your friends, and your family," she says in the video. "Let's get vaccinated."
Speaking during a press conference, Rodrigo said she was "beyond honored and humbled" to team up with Fauci and Biden to "help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination."
"I’m in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was happy to help lend my support to this important initiative," she said, according to NME. "It’s important to have conversations with friends and family members, encouraging all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do more easily than ever before given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them at vaccines.gov."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.