President Donald Trump was half a world away getting called out at Pope Francis’ funeral in Italy, but he still cast a shadow over Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The soirée was an entertainment-free experience because the Trump administration took offense at comments made by comedian Amber Ruffin, who was set to host the event, on a Daily Beast podcast last month.
Ruffin told hosts Samantha Bee and Beast Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles that the Trump administration is “kind of a bunch of murderers,” and that playing to both sides “makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way, ‘cause they’re not.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In response, White House Correspondents’ Association President Eugene Daniels informed association members that the WHCA board had “unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year.”
Daniels’ letter continued, “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.”
Daniels’ speech at Saturday night’s event affirmed that focus when he told attendees, “There’s no president, there’s no comedian, it’s just an intense focus on our fabulous scholarship students. Just a celebration of all of you—thousands of people with a shared commitment to the First Amendment.”
While gathered journalists celebrated their shared commitment to freedom of speech, they also took stock of the reporting—and lack of reporting—that had led to this moment.
Axios’ Alex Thompson, who received the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House coverage as a result of his reporting on former President Biden, acknowledged the media’s shortcomings in his acceptance speech, telling the audience, “President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception… We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it.”
No representatives of the Trump administration attended the event. According to former Puck reporter Tara Palmeri, officials were warned against it. Instead, they can be found celebrating the imminent arrival of a new private club co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. in Georgetown, Politico reports.
Some Republicans did attend the dinner, however, including former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Trump’s former deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley.
Trump’s own absence did not come as a surprise. Trump is the only sitting president never to have attended the dinner. He went once as a guest, in 2011, where he was famously roasted by then-President Barack Obama—a moment many people believe inspired Trump to run for president a few years later.
