The White House Correspondents ‘ Association ( WHCA ) will hold its annual dinner on April 26. As is typical, the organization invited a noted comedian to grilled the current leader and make fun of lawmakers from both sides.
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That’s the way it used to be, anyhow.  ,
History hosts included Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle, George Carlin, and George Burns, among different old-timers. In 1964, the Smothers Brothers apparently made Lyndon Johnson laugh so hard that he lost command of his kidney.
The point is that there was an effort to get evenhanded in making enjoyment of both parties. It was a key to being invited if you were a graphic.
In recent years, that hasn’t been the event. Since at least 2006, when Stephen Colbert performed his right-wing movie character, and some George Bush employees walked away, the shows have left out making fun of the remaining and violently attacked conservatives.
Eugene Daniels, the leader of the WHCA, was excited about this year’s invited cartoon.
Was so excited to announce that , @ambermruffin is going to be the featured enterainer for the WHCD this time!
The clock has begun!
— Eugene Daniels ( @EugeneDaniels2 ) February 4, 2025
Who is Amber Ruffin? She hosted her  , personal late-night present on the streaming service Peacock and is a contributor for” Late Night with Seth Meyers”. I don’t understand how this recommends her for a perfect comedic job.  ,
At any rate, Daniels may had done a little more research. Ruffin appeared on the Daily Beast radio and soon proved why she may be ready for an underground sexual team, but not for the level of the WHCA supper.
On Thursday, Amber Ruffin sparked MAGA outrage when she said that she wouldn’t try to make sure that her jokes targeted both sides of the political spectrum during her set, as she had been instructed to do by the White House Correspondents ‘ Association ( WHCA ).
She told hosts comedian Samantha Bee and Beast Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles that the Trump presidency are “kind of a bunch of killers”, adding that playing to both sides “makes them feel like people people, but they don’t get to feel that way,’ reason they’re not”.
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Charming.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich was crimson.
This time ‘s , @whca meal will be hosted by a 2nd level artist who is previewing the occasion by calling this administration “murderers” who want to “feel like human beings, but they don’t get to feel that way, because you’re not”
What kind of responsible, sensible journalist … pic. twitter.com/tZCJS9fNOT
— Taylor Budowich (@ Taylor47 ) March 29, 2025
Daniels tried to backtrack by changing the format for the dinner, nixing the comedic performance altogether.
He wrote in a Saturday email:” The WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year”. He added that the event’s “focus is not on the politics of division” but on honoring the association’s journalists.
Budowich was unimpressed at Daniels ‘ move.
” No accountability at WHCA, just a cop out statement—pathetic”! Budowich , wrote on X, attacking Daniels and adding it was” so sad that such a storied and consequential group has been so quickly driven into irrelevancy”.
Daniels claimed he was “re-envisioning” the dinner” for the past couple of weeks”. You wouldn’t have to win a Pulitzer to know what kind of” comedian” Ruffin was. That she was invited in the first place was a travesty.
The WHCA and the White House have been at war as Trump, like every president, seeks to shape news coverage.  ,
In February, the White House announced that the WHCA would no longer be allowed to decide which journalists were assigned to cover the president on a given day. The White House itself now assigns reporters to the pool, which has raised concerns about the opportunity for the press to cover the administration without fear of retribution.
Daniels said at the time that the decision “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States”.
The same month, Trump moved to exclude the Associated Press from press events after the international news agency decided to stick with the name the” Gulf of Mexico” rather than, as Trump has tried to rename it, the” Gulf of America”.
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Trump figured the media was going to go for the jugular anyway, so why pretend that anything he did would placate them?
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