Amber Ruffin’s slated performance at next month’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been canceled, the group’s president announced Saturday.
In an email to members, White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels, who until recently was a reporter for Politico and is set to join MSNBC as a senior Washington correspondent, said that the WHCA board had “unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year.”
The Emmy-nominated Ruffin — a longtime writer and performer on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” among numerous other credits, including “A Black Lady Sketch Show” — had already been announced by the WHCA in early February as the featured entertainment for the April 26 dinner.
“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 said in his Saturday email.
Daniels did not elaborate on the decision. However, in an appearance on the Daily Beast podcast this week, Ruffin said she was told by the WHCA that “you need to be equal, and make sure that you give it to both sides and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that, dude, under no circumstances.'”
Ruffin currently features on the CNN series “Have I Got News For You,” and her work has often been critical of President Trump.
The annual gala, an opportunity for media members to socialize with federal officials and celebrities in a relaxed setting, has historically included a performance from a comedian as well as a roast of sorts from the sitting president.
Mr. Trump, whose contentious relationship with the media is well documented, broke precedent and snubbed the event entirely during his first term.
However, during a Feb. 5 White House briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not rule out the possibility of Mr. Trump attending the April dinner.
“It’s certainly an interesting choice,” Leavitt said at the time of Ruffin’s selection to perform. “I have the president’s invitation on my desk, I have the invitation for myself on my desk as well. I haven’t talked to the president about it. When he makes his decision, I will let you all know, but definitely an interesting choice of the comedian. I’ll talk to the boss about it and see what we decide.”
This is not the first time that the WHCA has canceled a comedian. Following Michelle Wolf’s controversial 2018 performance, the group announced that it would not feature a comedian the following year, instead opting to go with an address from historian Ron Chernow in 2019.
The dinner was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in 2022, and along with it then-President Joe Biden’s participation.
The 2024 dinner, featuring comedian Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live,” occurred against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, with hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters rallying outside the Washington Hilton, where the event is held.
Faris TanyosFaris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
