Jokes still flow without Trump at press dinner
Prominent Washington journalists, if not Hollywood stars, celebrated the First Amendment on Saturday during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an event that lacked the glitter of past years because of the absence of the president.
With President Donald Trump sending his regrets, the attention was no longer focused on an in-person roasting of the commander in chief. The red carpet that once featured Oscar winners, TV stars and a few major-league athletes barely turned heads.
Instead, speakers at the dinner promoted press freedom and responsibility and challenged Trump’s accusations of dishonest reporting.
But the evening was not without humor aimed at the press and Trump.
“We’ve got to address the elephant that’s not in the room,” cracked the entertainment headliner, Hasan Minhaj of “The Daily Show” on TV’s Comedy Central. “The leader of our country is not here. And that’s because he lives in Moscow. It is a very long flight . ... As for the other guy, I think he’s in Pennsylvania because he can’t take a joke.”
The correspondents’ dinner was briefly upstaged Saturday afternoon when late-night TV star Samantha Bee of “Full Frontal” pulled in celebrities for the first “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” among them Alysia Reiner of “Orange Is the New Black,” Retta of “Parks and Recreation” and Matt Walsh of “Veep.” Bee’s taped show, a tonguein-cheek tribute to American news organizations, featured actor Will Ferrell and other guests.