Amber Ruffin Teaches White House Correspondents’ Association-Approved Comics How to Be Toothless Fence-Sitters
According to the White House Correspondents’ Association, the responsibilities of the comedian in today’s political landscape are to coddle the powerful and avoid any mention of governmental injustice — and here I thought that was the WHCA’s job.
In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, this past weekend, the WHCA made the move to fire comedian and late-night host Amber Ruffin from her duties as the featured comedian at the White House Correspondents' Dinner later this month. WHCA President Eugene Daniels reported that the organization’s board voted unanimously to oust the Amber Ruffin Show host less than two months after announcing her selection as the host for this year’s meeting of the country’s most powerful politicians and press members, explaining of the decision, “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.”
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Now that may sound like a servile, pathetic and entirely craven capitulation to a Trump regime that habitually retaliates against its critics with extra-constitutional attacks, but Ruffin believes that a comedian can still do all that much better. During a surprise appearance on last night’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ruffin educated Meyers and any other politically minded comedian watching on how a real nonpartisan, equivocating coward avoids speaking truth to power:
“When I began to think about what entertainer would be a perfect fit for the dinner this year, Amber was immediately at the top of my list,” Daniels declared of Ruffin when he announced the comedian as this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner host back in February. “She has the ability to walk the line between blistering commentary and humor all while provoking her audience to think about the important issues of the day. I’m thrilled and honored she said yes.”
“Her perspective will fit right in with the dinner’s tradition of honoring the freedom of the press while roasting the most powerful people on all sides of the aisle and the journalists who cover them," Daniels promised just weeks before he would reverse his stance that political comedians should hold the powerful accountable instead of meekly appeasing them with empty gestures and gutless submission like Daniels does.
While the WHCA didn’t have the courage to report the reason why they even held a vote on Ruffin’s dismissal, the decision is likely due to Ruffin’s comments on the The Daily Beast Podcast earlier this month when she called the Trump administration “kind of a bunch of murderers,” claiming that the WHCA instructed her on her planned and canned performance, “You need to be equal, and be sure that you give it to both sides.”
Her response: “I was like, ‘There’s no way.’”
Ruffin’s harsh words for the current regime ruffled the feathers of White House staffers who struck out at her on Twitter, and, while Daniels claims that his vision for a post-roasting dinner had been weeks in the making, the timing of Ruffin’s firing lined up too perfectly with a tweet from deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich who wrote of Ruffin’s appearance at the event, “What kind of a sensible, responsible journalist would attend something like this?”
Clearly, Daniels’ blueprint for the future of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner needs to be White House approved, so the entertainers responsible for the evening’s success would do well to follow Ruffin’s advice to always play both sides — just play the winning side a little bit more.
