Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough sarcastically suggested the White House hire “non-controversial” comedian Bill Burr for the annual Correspondents’ Dinner following news they had dropped host Amber Ruffin.
Comedian Ruffin was dropped from the hosting gig just two months after being announced, following her public criticism of the Trump administration on The Daily Beast Podcast and a refusal to tone down her jokes.
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) confirmed the news in a statement on March 29, in which they stated “The WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year.”
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WHCA President Eugene Daniels added that the focus of the event should be on “celebrating journalism” and supporting reporters rather than on what he calls “divisive politics”, Politico reported.
When asked if she would tone down her jokes during the event, Ruffin replied: “There’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that, dude. Under no circumstances.” She also took a dig at the administration adding, “You’re kind of a bunch of murderers.”
Her comments earned her the ire of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, who labelled Ruffin a “second-rate comedian” and said: “What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly, what kind of company would sponsor such a hate-filled and violence-inspiring event?”
Neither Ruffin nor the WHCA has responded to the controversy, but the annual event will now take place without a comedic host.
Reacting to the news on Morning Joe, co-hosts Jonathan Lemire and Mika Brzezinski discussed the story when Scarborough butted in to offer his take on a replacement comedian.
“Why don’t we have like a non-controversial comedian like Bill Burr?” he offered.
“Yeah, that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows,” Lemire said in response to the joke.
“He could just talk about Elon for an hour,” Scarborough shot back, before he was interrupted by Brzezinski who was keen to move the segment along.
After a brief moment of awkward silence, Lemire got the show back on track and said: “As of now, the dinner is still slated for the end of April. But there’s questions growing, whether it will happen.”
