Michelle Wolf’s ‘Unnecessarily Cruel’ White House Correspondents’ Dinner Act Ripped – by Media

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight,” New York Times reporter Peter Baker wrote

michelle wolf sarah sanders white house correspondents dinner
CSPAN

Comedian Michelle Wolf’s caustic routine at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner got some major pushback — and not just from President Donald Trump and members of his administration (many of whom, like press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, were in the room).

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker tweeted.

Politico reporter Kyle Cheney said that the harsh tone of Wolf’s routine was off-putting — and counterproductive to the message that the press organization was trying to send.

“Michelle Wolf didn’t fail just because she was (spectacularly) one-sided,” he tweeted. “It was because she was unnecessarily cruel on a night the WHCA was trying to showcase decency and purpose.”

Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard added, “If the dinner did anything tonight, it made the chasm between journalists and those who don’t trust us, even wider.”

Many focused on the harsh jokes from the “Daily Show” alum directed at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was on the dais as Wolf delivered jibes at her personal appearance and honesty.

“The spirit of the event had always been jokes that singe but don’t burn,” NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell tweeted, noting that “reporters who work with her daily appreciate” that Sanders turned up for the event at all.

Early Sunday, Trump himself panned the event as a “very big, boring bust” and said “the so-called comedian really ‘bombed.’”

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer called the dinner “a disgrace.”

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said that he and his wife, White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, walked out early in protest: “Enough of elites mocking all of us.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/990557728752926725

Read some of the other reactions below.

https://twitter.com/JamesHasson20/status/990436431758798848

https://twitter.com/BradThor/status/990442149325000706

https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/990576153621663745

And while Wolf was excoriated by many in Washington, her act was applauded by others, like The Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald, who praised Wolf for making the night uncomfortable.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/990647793793556480

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