White House Correspondents’ Dinner Drops Amber Ruffin Performance

Amber Ruffin will no longer be performing at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The White House Correspondents Association announced Saturday afternoon that the group’s board had unanimously voted to remove the traditional comedic performance from this year’s event.

“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,” explained WHCA president Eugene Daniels, of Politico, in a letter to the association’s members.

It was less than two months ago that Daniels announced Ruffin would be this year’s featured entertainer.

“Amber’s unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate,” he wrote at the time. “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.”

Ruffin stirred controversy earlier this week during an appearance on The Daily Beast Podcast, where she said of the WHCA, “they were like, ‘you need to be equal and make sure that you give it to both sides,’ and I was like, ‘there’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that,‘” she said. “Under no circumstances.”

Brian Stelter at CNN reports the decision to remove this year’s comedy performance was “already in the works” before Ruffin’s comments came to light.

Ruffin, of course, is no stranger to late-night TV viewers, having served as a longtime writer/featured performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers. She’s also the former host of her own show on Peacock, and a team captain on CNN’s Have I Got News For You.

Donald Trump has something of a tortured history with the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, much as he does with the WHCA itself.

The annual event that sees journalists and a handful of Hollywood A-listers mix it up with the president and other D.C politicos has historically tapped a comedian to headline the event, often of the late-night variety. Traditionally the comic and sitting president will both take turns roasting those in the assembled group.

That was certainly the case in 2012, when Seth Meyers headlined the event alongside then-President Barack Obama, who both brutally mocked attendee Donald Trump over his role in the “birther movement.” The story goes that it was his humuliation that night that led Trump to run for president in 2016.

After becoming president the first time, Trump broke with tradition and declined to attend the dinner. The event proceeded with comics Hasan Minhaj and Michelle Wolf as headliners the first two years of his presidency, while historian Ron Chernow spoke at the third. (The event was canceled the fourth year due to COVID.)

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the WHCA plans to tap a different featured speaker for the event. In his letter to members, Daniels said the board is planning a “re-envisioning of our dinner,” adding that more details will be announced later. Trump himself has yet to indicate whether or not he will attend.

This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner is scheduled for Saturday April 26, 2025. Stay tuned.