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UPDATED, with White House comment: Amber Ruffin will be the featured entertainer at the next White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, scheduled for April 26.
“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,” said Politico’s Eugene Daniels, president of the association.
He added, “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.”
The big question is whether Trump will attend the dinner, held at the Washington Hilton. He skipped the event in each of the four years of his term, but Joe Biden returned the tradition of presidential attendance.
“Definitely an interesting choice of the comedian,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Ruffin appears on the comedy news series Have I Got News For You, and is a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. She also appears on the late-night NBC talk show in the “Amber Says What” segment and, like Meyers, has been biting in her comedy about Donald Trump. A reporter had noted to Leavitt that Ruffin had called Trump “a toddler with his pants pulled down.”
Leavitt said that she had not yet talked to Trump about whether he would attend. The president last month bashed Meyers, and warned that Comcast, parent company of NBCUniversal, should “pay a big price” for shows he calls “political hits.”
In a statement, Daniels said, “Amber’s unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate. 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.”
He added, “This dinner is about centering the importance of a functioning democracy and Amber is the type of entertainer who understands both the significance of that mission as well as the mechanics of power in this country.”
Ruffin’s credits as a writer also include HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, Comedy Central’s Detroiters, and major awards telecasts. She and her sister Lacey Lamar host the podcast The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show! Together.
The featured entertainer faces a tough crowd — Beltway journalists and politicos, plus a nationwide television audience. But one of the bigger challenges is when the president is there, the entertainer has traditionally followed his schtick.
