The White House Correspondents Association have ousted the scheduled comedian for their annual dinner this year after she said on a podcast that the Trump administration was staffed with ‘murderers.’
Amber Ruffin was set to perform at the famed event next month but the association’s board have unanimously voted to remove her.
Eugene Daniels, president of the WHCA, said that he wanted to ensure ‘the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues’.
Daniels did not mention Ruffin by name in the memo and said that the board is planning a ‘re-envisioning of our dinner’.
The move to dismiss Ruffin comes after she spoke about the dinner in a podcast this week with the Daily Beast.
She said on it that the Trump White House is staffed with ‘murderers’ and described the administration as ‘not human beings’.
Taylor Budowich, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, shared a clip of Ruffin on the podcast to his X account and slammed the comic on Friday.
In it, he said: ‘This year’s WHCA dinner will be hosted by a 2nd rate comedian who is previewing the event by calling this administration “murderers.”‘
Amber Ruffin, seen here, was set to perform at the famed event next month but the association’s board have unanimously voted to oust her from the dinner
Trump waves as he walks before departing for Florida from the South Lawn at the White House on March 28, 2025
Budowich continued to quote Ruffin saying the Trump admin shouldn’t get to feel like human beings ‘because you’re not.’
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‘What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly, what kind of company would sponsor such as hate-filled and violence-inspiring event?’
When Daniels had originally announced Ruffin as the main feature, he said in a statement that her ‘unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate.’
He added: ‘Her perspective will fit right in with the dinner’s tradition of honoring the freedom of the press while roasting the most powerful people on all sides of the aisle and the journalists who cover them.’
The annual dinner has taken place since 1921 and is known for entertainers performing who poke fun at politics, often about key players who are in attendance.
President Trump has never actually attended the dinner in office, and he and his staffers have frequently criticized the event and past comedians who performed.
It is unclear if the president will attend, while his press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she would not be in attendance.
Speaking on ‘The Sean Spicer Show’, she said: ‘This is a group of journalists who’ve been covering the White House for decades.
Trump’s last appearance at the WHCA dinner was in 2015 as a private citizen, when he and Melania Trump were photographed at the glitzy event
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has announced she will boycott the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner next month
‘They started this organization because the presidents at the time were not doing enough press conferences.
‘I don’t think we have that problem anymore under this president.’
Every US president since Calvin Coolidge in 1924 has attended the event at least once, except for Trump.
Presidents from FDR to Obama have used the evening to poke fun at themselves, even as journalists sharpen their critiques.
But Trump’s refusal to attend during his first term shattered that precedent, and now Leavitt is following suit, taking a step further to publicly rebuke the WHCA as a ‘monetized monopoly.’
She went on to accuse the WHCA of being an ‘exclusive group’ that has ‘not really welcomed other people, new media, independent journalists, with open arms.’