The White House Correspondents Dinner has just reversed course on having an anti-Trump comedian Amber Ruffin perform at the dinner, who called President Trump and his administration a bunch of “murderers”.
The WHCA had hired Ruffin for the gig, but no more. According to CNN, they are instead going to focus on journalism, ‘the First Amendment and free press’.
Here’s more:
The White House Correspondents’ Association is reversing course and canceling its plans to have comedian Amber Ruffin headline this year’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington, DC.
Instead, the association says it will celebrate the First Amendment and the free press.
“At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” the association’s president, Eugene Daniels, wrote in a memo Saturday.
He said the association’s board voted unanimously to make the change, and did not immediately announce any new speakers.
The change is a tacit acknowledgment of the growing tensions between the association — which represents White House correspondents from dozens of news outlets — and President Donald Trump.
Trump skipped the annual dinner during his first four years in office and was expected to snub it again this April.
Some members of the association were privately concerned about the optics of a comedian who is harshly critical of Trump serving as the evening’s entertainment, televised and streamed live in prime time.
The association has been under severe pressure this year as the Trump White House has banned The Associated Press from some events and taken control of press pool assignments, all part of a broader effort to assert power and clamp down on independent news coverage. White House correspondents aren’t exactly in a celebratory mood.
Meanwhile, conservative media outlets aligned with Trump have been planning their own alternative events around the April 26 dinner. Scores of media companies buy tables at the annual dinner, and many hold their own receptions surrounding the event.
This decision to fire Amber Ruffin may have been spawned by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, who wrote:
This year’s @whca dinner will be hosted by a 2nd rate comedian who is previewing the event by calling this administration “murderers” who want to “feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way, because you’re not”
What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly, what kind of company would sponsor such as hate-filled and violence-inspiring event?