Bill O’Reilly issued a stern warning to anyone who planned to “misbehave” at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, vowing to confront any protesters “in the room.”
The conservative commentator shared that he planned to attend Saturday’s event in Washington, D.C. during Wednesday’s episode of “No Spin News.” Per O’Reilly, he only decided to attend after President Donald Trump confirmed he’d appear at the famed dinner, a first for his presidency.
“First time in his five years in office that Donald Trump is attending. And that’s why I’m going to be there,” he said. “Not because of the president, but because if anybody misbehaves, they’re going to have to answer me. And I mean that.”
He continued: “I’m going to have their names and every place else on Monday up here. And if they get out of control, which I can’t imagine because the Secret Service will be all over the place, I’ll confront them right in the room. Because, you have to respect the office of the presidency.”
O’Reilly’s warning came two days after CNN’s Jake Tapper confirmed on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” that he’d be wearing a First Amendment pocket square to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as a way to protest the Trump administration’s attacks on free speech.
Tapper and a number of other reporters plan to wear accessories displaying their First Amendment right to Saturday’s event. The pocket square, which Tapper gifted to Colbert, read, “Congress Shall Make No Law Abridging The Freedom of Speech or of the Press.”
“There are a bunch of us that are gonna be wearing these,” Tapper explained to Colbert on Monday. “These are from the Reporters Committee for the Free Press. And, cause there might be some guests there that are unfamiliar with [the First Amendment].”
As we previously noted, the 2026 WHCD will be the first one Trump will attend across his five years as president. Additionally, the dinner also skipped out on the trend to be hosted by a comedian and will, instead, be helmed by the mentalist Oz Pearlman.
The WHCD airs on C-SPAN on Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET.
