The White House Correspondents Association canceled comedian Amber Ruffin from performing at its annual dinner because it wants to refocus the event on journalistic excellence.
The association's announcement over the weekend made no mention of Ruffin's appearance on a podcast by the Daily Beast last week in which she referred to the Trump administration as “kind of a bunch of murderers.”
Ruffin, a writer for NBC's Seth Meyers and formerly a host of a Peacock talk show, also said she wouldn't try to make sure her jokes would target politicians of different stripes, as she was told by the correspondents' association.
Her comments drew angry responses from the Trump administration. The president isn't expected to attend the April event, which in past years has featured comics such as Stephen Colbert and Colin Jost. The last time a comedian did not perform at the dinner was in 2019, when historian Ron Chernow spoke.
The president of the correspondents' association, Eugene Daniels, said over the weekend that he had been planning a “re-envisioning” of the dinner over the past couple of weeks.
“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,” Daniels, host of an upcoming show on MSNBC, said in a statement.
