Bob Dylan skipped a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House with the rest of the American Nobel Prize winners.

"Unfortunately, Bob Dylan will not be at the White House today.

So everyone can relax," Obama's top spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters.

He did not explain why Dylan decided not to attend.

Dylan also skipped a trip to Stockholm, Sweden in order to be presented with the award, citing "other commitments."

Coincidentally, Obama, who is a Dylan fan, applauded the move at the time.

"Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel," he tweeted last month.

The Nobel Prize committee announced on October 13, 2016 that it would be awarding Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."