The annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner will no longer feature a headline performance from comedian Amber Ruffin as tensions between the White House and the press group have escalated ahead of next month’s ritzy event.
The WHCA President Eugene Daniels said in a Saturday email to members that the board unanimously decided that “we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year.”
“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.
“For the past couple of weeks, I have been planning a re-envisioning of our dinner tradition for this year,” the WHCA president said. “As the date nears, I will share more details of the plans in place to honor journalistic excellence and a robust, independent media covering the most powerful office in the world.”
Ruffin, who is also a writer on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” has previously criticized Trump. The comedian was announced as the headline entertainer for the April 26 dinner in early February. Days later, while on CNN, Ruffin claimed that “no one” wants Trump to be at the high-profile event.
“He’s missing out on one of the cool things about being the president of the United States. But I don’t know that anyone’s looking forward to being in the same room as him,” Ruffin told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The Hill reached out to Ruffin’s team for comment.
Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she would skip the gala.
The decision comes as tensions between the association and the White House have been simmering since Trump’s return to the White House.
The administration limited The Associated Press’s access to the Oval Office and Air Force One in February. The White House also said it would take control of the rotating press pool that covers the president’s activity when space is limited, arguing that it is “beyond time the White House press pool reflects the media habits of the American people in 2025.”