What did Amber Ruffin say? WHCA cancels comedian’s performance following podcast appearance criticizing Trump

The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dropped former Late-night show host and comedian Amber Ruffin as the headliner for this year’s comedy performance at the annual White House Correspondent’s dinner scheduled to occur next month on April 26.

Ruffin’s performance was scrapped after WHCA cancelled the traditional comedy portion of its annual dinner. Political satire has been a decades-long practice of WHCA, which honors press freedom.

According to multiple reports, including US Weekly, Amber Ruffin’s appearance was cancelled after Ruffin appeared on the Daily Beast podcast in which she criticized Donald Trump and his administration.

Shortly after Ruffin was dropped, in a statement, WHCA President Eugene Daniels described this year’s event as “a “re-envisioning of our dinner tradition.” He said:

“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."

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What did Amber Ruffin say about Trump and his administration?

On March 28, 2025, Amber Ruffin appeared on the Daily Beast podcast, where she criticized President Donald Trump and his Administration. When asked about Ruffin’s preparation for the White House Correspondent’s Dinner appearance, the comedian said:

“I have my google docs open at all times for throwing jokes in there and little thoughts.”

She added,

“News is happening at such a freaking clip how we are supposed to hit this moving target.”

When asked if Amber Ruffin expected Donald Trump to show up at the event, Ruffin said:

“No, I don't. I just honestly don't think it’s an important thing to him in any way.”

In response, co-host Joanna Coles recalled the 2011 White House correspondent’s dinner where Trump was mocked, triggering his aversion toward the event.

Co-Host Samantha Bee then mocked Trump’s Kennedy Center “take over” saying he doesn’t have to attend these events and can instead have WWE matches at the venue.

When asked if anyone from the Trump administration will be attending, Amber Ruffin said:

“I'm not 100% interested in being like "'Ha you're here, look at your stupid head.. you're burned'" I care that like you're kind of a bunch of Murderers. They [WHCA] were like you need to be you know equal and make sure that the that you give it to both sides and blah blah blah. I was like there's no way I'm going to be freaking doing that dude.”

She continued:

“I do think there will be a sense of... what the hell are we doing? It’s bonkers that we’re still acting like things are normal. We’re all going on this roller coaster, right? You spend five minutes (thinking), hey, we’ve had worse. Then you turn a corner and you’re like, ‘no, this is as bad as it will ever be.‘”

When asked if Ruffin was told to go after “both sides equally”, the comedian replied:

“They had people bring it up in the past about how uneven the comedy was.”

When Coles pointed out the comedy usually targets the President at the time, Ruffin said:

“I think the burns on Trump hurt badly and then it trickles down to everyone who is around him cuz You all are also guilty. So I think they got their feelings hurt.”

She added,

"They also want that false equivalency that the media does. It feels great. It makes them feel like human beings. But they shouldn’t get to feel that way because they’re not.”

According to BBC, Ruffin was dropped after the White House criticized WHCA for choosing the comedian as a headliner, despite her past criticism of Donald Trump. Ruffin has mocked Trump and his administration in her shows in recent weeks, including his order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.

The White House deputy chief of staff, Taylor Budowich described the comedian as “hate-filled” following her podcast appearance. He also called out WHCA for a “cop-out statement” dropping Amber Ruffin as the event’s headliner.

Amber Ruffin has yet to react to WHAC's decision.