Latest news with #WhiteHouseCorrespondents'Assn.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amber Ruffin explains the lesson she learned when she was disinvited from WHCA dinner
Amber Ruffin isn't going to perform for the White House Correspondents' Assn.'s dinner later this month after the group's board decided unanimously to un-invite her as its featured entertainer. WHCA President Eugene Daniels — who recently joined MSNBC as a weekend host — said in a Saturday email to members that the organization's board had unanimously decided to lose the comedian and refocus the event on journalistic excellence rather than "the politics of division," Politico reported. Read more: MSNBC's post-Joy Reid era begins with hiring of Politico veteran Eugene Daniels He didn't mention that Ruffin said on a podcast last week that the Trump administration was "kind of a bunch of murderers" who wanted the "false equivalency that the media does" because it "makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn't get to feel that way, because they're not" — and that there was "no way" she was going to mock both parties at the dinner. Or that Trump's deputy chief of staff had called out the organization Friday for featuring a "2nd rate comedian" at the dinner and the next day referred to Ruffin as a "garbage, hate-filled comedian." To comment on events — sort of — Ruffin popped up Monday on "Late Night With Seth Meyers," the show where she's worked as a writer and performer since 2014. Meyers was talking about a supposed robbery at a bodega when the comedian materialized on set, saying, "Honestly, I'm concerned with how you're going to end that joke." "Obviously, I'm going to make a punchline to make fun of the guy who robbed the bodega," the host replied. Read more: Jess Hilarious confronts Loren LoRosa, 'Breakfast Club' after her heated Instagram rant "See, Seth, the problem is, that's divisive," Ruffin said with sarcasm. "Take it from me. If there's one thing I learned from this weekend, it's you have to be fair to both sides." "Yeah, but that doesn't make sense in this case," Meyers said, playing the straight man. "There's an innocent bodega owner. There's a burglar." "Or — hear me out — there are very fine people on both sides," she said. The audience laughed as she invoked comments made by President Trump when he was asked in 2017 about violence around the tearing down of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, N.C. Demonstrations for and against the removal of the statue had happened amid a far-right rally organized by white nationalists. Not mentioned, perhaps because Ruffin is in the business of jokes, was the part where Trump also said, "I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK?" Read more: Amber Ruffin comes out as queer on last day of Pride: 'Be proud of who you are, little babies!' Back on the late-night show, Meyers and Ruffin went back and forth. "Yeah, but he shattered the front door of a bodega," Meyers said. "Did he?" Ruffin replied. "Or did he provide an innovative ventilation system?" Stealing from the till? "He received a micro-loan." Setting fire to the ATM? "He bravely fought inflation." Finally, Meyers said, "Amber, when people are objectively terrible, we should be able to point that out on television." Read more: 'The Baldwins,' Alec and Hilaria's TLC show, addresses 'Rust' shooting and PTSD "I thought that too," she said. "On Friday. But today is Monday. And Monday's Amber Ruffin knows that when bad people do bad things, you have to treat them fairly and respectfully. When you're watching 'The Sound of Music,' you have to root for the singing children and the other people." "You mean the Nazis?" Meyers asked. "Calling them that is so one-sided!" she answered. Read more: DOGE firings provoke heated confrontations, shouts of 'Nazi,' at Republican town halls The exchange continued apace with Ruffin ultimately saying that she was glad she had been stopped from making her speech at the dinner, because "Ooh baby, I would have been so terrifically mean." Then Ruffin said she had to run because she had to return the dress she planned to wear to the correspondents dinner. "I already took the tags off," she said, "but I'm gonna just say they blew off in the wind." Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter about the TV and movies everyone's talking about from the L.A. Times. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Amber Ruffin explains the lesson she learned when she was disinvited from WHCA dinner
Amber Ruffin isn't going to perform for the White House Correspondents' Assn.'s dinner later this month after the group's board decided unanimously to un-invite her as its featured entertainer. WHCA President Eugene Daniels — who recently joined MSNBC as a weekend host — said in a Saturday email to members that the organization's board had unanimously decided to lose the comedian and refocus the event on journalistic excellence rather than 'the politics of division,' Politico reported. He didn't mention that Ruffin said on a podcast last week that the Trump administration was 'kind of a bunch of murderers' who wanted the 'false equivalency that the media does' because it 'makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn't get to feel that way, because they're not' — and that there was 'no way' she was going to mock both parties at the dinner. Or that Trump's deputy chief of staff had called out the organization Friday for featuring a '2nd rate comedian' at the dinner and the next day referred to Ruffin as a 'garbage, hate-filled comedian.' To comment on events — sort of — Ruffin popped up Monday on 'Late Night With Seth Meyers,' the show where she's worked as a writer and performer since 2014. Meyers was talking about a supposed robbery at a bodega when the comedian materialized on set, saying, 'Honestly, I'm concerned with how you're going to end that joke.' 'Obviously, I'm going to make a punchline to make fun of the guy who robbed the bodega,' the host replied. 'See, Seth, the problem is, that's divisive,' Ruffin said with sarcasm. 'Take it from me. If there's one thing I learned from this weekend, it's you have to be fair to both sides.' 'Yeah, but that doesn't make sense in this case,' Meyers said, playing the straight man. 'There's an innocent bodega owner. There's a burglar.' 'Or — hear me out — there are very fine people on both sides,' she said. The audience laughed as she invoked comments made by President Trump when he was asked in 2017 about violence around the tearing down of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, N.C. Demonstrations for and against the removal of the statue had happened amid a far-right rally organized by white nationalists. Not mentioned, perhaps because Ruffin is in the business of jokes, was the part where Trump also said, 'I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK?' Back on the late-night show, Meyers and Ruffin went back and forth. 'Yeah, but he shattered the front door of a bodega,' Meyers said. 'Did he?' Ruffin replied. 'Or did he provide an innovative ventilation system?' Stealing from the till? 'He received a micro-loan.' Setting fire to the ATM? 'He bravely fought inflation.' Finally, Meyers said, 'Amber, when people are objectively terrible, we should be able to point that out on television.' 'I thought that too,' she said. 'On Friday. But today is Monday. And Monday's Amber Ruffin knows that when bad people do bad things, you have to treat them fairly and respectfully. When you're watching 'The Sound of Music,' you have to root for the singing children and the other people.' 'You mean the Nazis?' Meyers asked. 'Calling them that is so one-sided!' she answered. The exchange continued apace with Ruffin ultimately saying that she was glad she had been stopped from making her speech at the dinner, because 'Ooh baby, I would have been so terrifically mean.' Then Ruffin said she had to run because she had to return the dress she planned to wear to the correspondents dinner. 'I already took the tags off,' she said, 'but I'm gonna just say they blew off in the wind.'
Los Angeles Times
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Judge rejects immediately restoring AP's access to White House but urges government to reconsider
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday refused to immediately order the White House to restore the Associated Press' access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not demonstrated it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter. But he urged the government to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law 'is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.' U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden's decision was only for the moment, however. He told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling. McFadden peppered both sides with questions during arguments over a lawsuit the AP filed Friday saying that its 1st Amendment rights were being violated by the ban, which began gradually two weeks ago. President Trump said it was punishment for the agency's decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America.' McFadden, discussing the composition of the 'press pool' that is chosen by the White House Correspondents' Assn., questioned why the government was obligated to follow those choices. 'It feels a little odd that the White House is somehow bound by the decisions this private organization is making,' the judge told AP attorneys. He also questioned AP's noting of its longtime membership in the White House press pool. 'Is this administration somehow bound by what happened with President McKinley?' the judge asked. But he noted that the correspondents' group had been tasked by the White House to choose the members of its pool. 'The White House has accepted the correspondents' association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic,' McFadden said in an exchange with government attorney Brian Hudak. Later, McFadden warned the government's attorney to reconsider its position, saying 'case law in this circuit is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.' The AP says it is adhering to the 'Gulf of Mexico' terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in U.S. territory, but it is acknowledging Trump's rechristening as well. AP says the issue strikes at the very core of the 1st Amendment, which bars the government from punishing speech. The White House says access to the president is a privilege, not a right. Earlier this month, the administration began barring the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas that have been open to the agency for a century as part of the White House press pool. The dispute stems from AP's refusal to change its style in referring to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump decreed the 'Gulf of America' via an executive order. The AP named three Trump officials — White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt — as defendants. The agency, a nonprofit news outlet in operation since 1846, called the White House's move a 'targeted attack' of the sort barred by the 1st Amendment. 'The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,' the AP said in its lawsuit. The White House says its move to restrict AP is not an infringement of free-speech rights. 'The only person who has the absolute right to occupy those spaces is the president of the United States,' Wiles wrote to Julie Pace, AP's executive editor, in an email included in the agency's lawsuit. 'For the rest of us, it's a privilege, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.' Sedensky writes for the Associated Press.
