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I’ve always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the annual White House Correspondents' Assocation dinner.
Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Roy Wood Jr.
I never covered the White House while working at the Washington Post, and I never tried to finagle an invite to the black-tie event. I found it distasteful that some reporters, including some good friends, would invite CEOs of corporations they covered. It just seemed to blur the lines of professionalism and made the press look all the more elite. Then there’s the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, which just never seemed big enough to host the collective egos and self-importance of the attendees.
On the other hand, I loved watching on C-SPAN the featured comic of the night, who would lampoon the current president and some reporters and media executives, who visibly squirmed or, if they wanted to look cool, would at least pretend to laugh at themselves. In the past, those comics have included Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, and Roy Wood Jr.
Amber Ruffin
This year, the WHCA invited the very funny Amber Ruffin to deliver the monologue, only to later retract it, out of fear she would go too hard on President Trump.
Which only serves to underline every wrong thing about this chummy exercise. This year, journalists and media executives need to boycott the event on April 26. They need to stand up and show some backbone.
The WHCAn is tiptoeing around the president’s tender ego. And the country can’t afford it. The media can’t be wimps. It’s true, Jeff Bezos.. Democracy really does die in darkness.
“The W.H.C.A. board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year,” the association’s president, Eugene Daniels, wrote to members on Saturday, according to The New York Times. “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.”
Too divisive, too political? Perhaps the Washington folks have forgotten that they cover politics, and that the current president makes Triumph the Insult Comic Dog seem like Miss Manners. Never in modern times have we had a president who insults, on a regular basis, the media (including many members of the WHCA), actors, politicians, ethnic groups, and foreign nations. Worried about divisiveness? Really?
The cancellation feels similar to what Bezos, the Washington Post owner, did by nixing the presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris last year. The outrage would have been far less if Bezos had decided six months or more in advance to say that the Post was no longer going to do presidential endorsements.
The idea of hiring Amber Ruffin, then reneging on the invite, is insulting on many levels, and plain ignorant. Ruffin is a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Has been since 2014. If you watch the show, you’ll soon realize that almost every single monologue of Seth Meyers’ involves making fun of Trump. You might have thought the association would have made that calculation before hiring her.
Plus, in these times, comics are some of the bravest voices in our society, pushing back where timid op-ed pages fear to tread. Why silence one when the press itself is wimping out?
Most of the attendees will ignore any calls to pass on the dinner, including one from Ron Fournier, former Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press and now a Detroit PR professional consultant, who wrote on Substack:
“As I wrote in a letter Monday to my friends and former colleagues in Washington, the media needs to stop capitulating, band together, and take collective action. Options include:
• Boycott the briefings, an unpopular idea defended here.
• Cancel the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Use the time to catch up on your rest or FOIAs.”
No question, attendees of the event don’t want to give up a fun evening which makes them feel important, not to mention the after-parties.
It’s one night, people. Boycotting it won’t be the end-all.
But it will send a clear message that the media still stands for something.
