US officials halt \'Party Hard\' outreach

The US State Department was forced to deny Monday that it had invited a notorious rock star behind such classics as \"Party Til You Puke\" to represent America in the conservative Gulf state of Bahrain. Musician, DJ, motivational speaker and self-styled \"King of Partying\" Andrew W.K. had earlier claimed to have been named a US \"cultural ambassador\" to the troubled Arab kingdom, a close US ally beset by sectarian tension. \"We will unite the human race with love and partying,\" he declared. But, in a set-back for this bold plan, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that there had been a misunderstanding. \"We had a Bahraini entity who approached the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy who I take it is pretty popular there in Bahrain,\" she said. \"That was initially approved and then, when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of US government funds,\" she explained. Asked whether Andrew W.K. had ever been formally invited, Nuland said: \"There may have been some preliminary conversations with him, but he is not going to be going to Bahrain on the US government\'s dime.\" The musician appeared a little crushed by the news. \"I\'m just blown away,\" he tweeted. \"After a year of planning, the US State Dept. just canceled my Middle East trip because I\'m too party.\" His website was quickly updated with a banner splashed across the earlier announcement reading: \"Cancelled, by the US State Department.\"