Comedians home in on Trump, Fox News, CNN
When comedian Hasan Minhaj stepped up to deliver his remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night, he had known for more than two months that President Donald Trump would skip the gala. Samantha Bee, who broadcast her own competing event, called the “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” on the same night, probably never wanted Trump there in the first place.
But in the absence of Trump, who instead gave a rally in Pennsylvania, Minhaj, of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” and Bee, host of TBS’ “Full Frontal,” vented their spleens at the press.
The comedians arrived at similar places. Both celebrated the First Amendment but also took sharp aim at the news media, urging reporters to show more integrity and to win back the respect of the American public.
Bee, whose show was recorded Saturday afternoon at DAR Constitution Hall, observed: “With so much excellent reporting out there, why do 96 percent of Americans believe the media should be strung up by its own bowels? I don’t know — maybe because when they turn on the TV looking for news, all they can find are journalists trying to referee a pack of well-coiffed message robots shouting at each other all day from increasingly tiny boxes.”
Minhaj, 31, who described himself as “a first-generation Indian-American Muslim kid,” lacked the star power of past entertainers. As Minhaj said at the start of his routine, “No one wanted to do this. So of course, it lands in the hands of an immigrant.”
Bee’s counterdinner raised funds for the Committee to Protect Journalists and included an appearance by Will Ferrell, who dusted off the impersonation of President George W. Bush he perfected on “Saturday Night Live” for the occasion.
Bee, 47, and Minhaj both had plenty of barbs about Fox News, which has been roiled by the exits of Roger E. Ailes, its chairman, and Bill O’Reilly, its top-rated host, amid allegations of sexual harassment.
But Minhaj the stronger summation. Even though Minhaj said he had been told not to mock Trump or his administration in absentia, he felt he had a duty to “get on this stage and make fun of the president.”
“But the president didn’t show up,” Minhaj said. “Because Donald Trump doesn’t care about free speech. The man who tweets everything that enters his head refuses to acknowledge the amendment that allows him to do it.”
A few hours from now, Minhaj said, “Donald Trump will be tweeting about how bad Nicki Minaj bombed at this dinner. ... And that’s his right. And I’m proud that all of us are here tonight to defend that right, even if the man in the White House never would.”