I am outraged.
Amber Ruffin, a Black woman, was lifted up publicly in February as the entertainer at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner.
On Saturday, the association president, Eugene Daniels, emailed the membership to announce the unanimous board decision to cancel the comedic entertainment that has been roasting presidents for decades.
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It is humiliating.
I do not know Amber Ruffin and I am not on the board of the WHCA. But from one Black woman to another, I want to apologize.
It’s unfortunate that you got caught in the middle of this WHCA fight with the White House.
What happened to Ruffin is a microcosm of broader turmoil within the WHCA as a 111-year-old press corps tries to remain free and independent.
For decades its dinner welcomed comedians and artists—until the time of Trump. Now it is canceling Ruffin because the White House played offended at what she said on The Daily Beast Podcast, that she could not “both sides” Republicans as the association seemed to want.
What galls me is that the Association knew who Amber Ruffin was.
They knew she offered harsh comedy against President Trump. To cancel her publicly as the featured guest three weeks before the dinner to appease the Trump White House shakes me to the core.
My questions for the association are these:
Did you understand what it would do to her career to do this?
What are we getting in return for this humiliation?
Are the president and his staff deciding not to boycott the dinner like in the first Trump term?
Will they pull back on some of the encroachment in the press room by keeping us free and independent?
In fact, it seems certain that canceling Ruffin was all for nothing.
An email to White House correspondents from the association is warning, “We’re aware of new reports indicating the White House is considering taking over the briefing room seat assignments.”
That will let the White House, not the press, decide who sits where—another encroachment on the ability of the press to hold power to account.
The free press is at stake, and accountability in reporting is slowly leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The American people need the facts about major shifts that impact them. That is why I and my colleagues report from the White House day in and day out. We report to the people—we do not report to the president.
Without a free press as the first line of questioning an American president, we all will be in the dark in the “Golden Age.” And Amber Ruffin will be far from the only casualty.
April Ryan is the Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent for Black Press USA. Ryan is also the longest-serving Black White House Correspondent in history.
