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Last weekend, Donald Trump refused to attend the White House Correspondents Association (WHCAD) Dinner, which honors the First Amendment, especially a free press, and usually includes a comedic chair roast. Instead, Trump followed his own tradition of holding a rally where he took the opportunity to hit the press the very evening our nation honored him. This year, however, was different, as the WHCAD chose a principal historian rather than a comedian, and because the administration announced days before the event that 's the main speaker. she would completely boycott the celebration. It was questionable whether these changes could affect our longstanding tradition of toasting the President while celebrating the first amendment.
Historically, making jokes about our current president while honoring our free press has been an important reminder that our country enjoys one of the strongest protections in terms of freedom of expression in the world. Not only did the event respect the way the first amendment protects journalists; but it also served to highlight the way it protects actors. The fact that a comedian roasted the president in the face proved that our country was extremely committed to freedom of expression. The decision to remove an actor from the event was therefore worrying. Did Trump dismantle our ability to make fun of him without fear of reprisal? Has the Trump administration managed to cool the freedom of comic expression?
The decision to no longer have a comedian as a featured speaker was taken following the confrontation brought on by the appearance of Michelle Wolf last year. While some of us found her sharp and ironic roast, for many mainstream media, her comments on Sarah Huckabee Sanders' appearance exceeded expectations. CNN's Chris Cillizza found that Sanders' phrase in Wolf's speech was an example of intimidation: "I think she's very resourceful, as if she were burning the facts and then using that ash to create a perfect smoke eye.Maybe it was born with that, maybe it's lies. "The crack led a lot to say that" afterwards " [Sanders’] seems too much, even if it is not clear that reading the joke even makes sense.
Whatever the case may be, the White House and the media thought Wolf had gone too far. Thus, this year, the White House Correspondents' Association succumbed to pressure and decided to plan the event without a comical roast from the president, preferring to call on the historian Ron Chernow.
Long before Trump took office, some speculated that the WHCAD, sometimes called "nerd nerd", had turned into a celebration of love between the elite. in power, celebrities and Washington journalists. This glitzy and sumptuous event seemed more like a celebration of the American oligarchy than the First Amendment.
This point of view has a lot of truth, but it would be a mistake not to remember the different times in which the event helped to make history and strengthened our traditions of freedom of expression. Despite its flaws, it's the only event that has highlighted the link between a free press and the ability to mock power without penalty. And in the past, there have been really epic nights. Remember Stephen Colbert's extraordinary George W. Bush roast in 2006 and Seth Meyers' potent roast of atmosphere in 2011 – a roast that some still believe the atmosphere that drove Trump to run was pushed to away. And we should not forget Hasan Minhaj's roast in 2017 at the first WHCAD ignored by Trump, where he reminded the audience that
"Only in the United States can a first-generation Indian Muslim child of America come on stage and make fun of the president. The orange man behind the Muslim ban. And it's a sign for the rest of the world. It is this incredible tradition that shows the world that even the president is not beyond the reach of the First Amendment. "
The boycott of the administration, the blatant ways in which the president mocks our free press, and the WHCA, yielding to the pressure, canceling a comic presence and instead choosing a benign speaker, were not auspicious . But fortunately, there was another event that was broadcast at night.
Starting in 2017, satirical comedian Samantha Bee, who regularly hosts "Full Frontal" for TBS, has launched an alternative event called "The White House Correspondents Dinner". At its launch, the same year, Minhaj organized the "main event". it served as an important complement. This year, while the WHCAD became almost unimportant, it proved that it could well take precedence over the protection of freedom of expression and the assurance of being able to laugh at power.
When Bee announced her decision to re-organize the event, she said, "I promised myself never to host a NWHCD again. But the White House Correspondents' Association left me no choice: it is now up to comedy reporters to take care of real journalists …. It's more important than the free press this time around. It's also the non-sexy parts of the First Amendment – and if the White House Correspondents' Association does not defend them, we'll do it. "
Bee's event offered energetic, nervous and quirky comedy that our country needs the Trump period. When Bee opened the event, she clarified her mission: "I really believe that once a year, the current president should face someone who calls him on his face. She then added, "Tonight I want to focus on what A cowardly king is. Imagine being the most powerful man in the world and you can not listen to a comedian move you for five minutes? "
She spared no word for Sarah Huckabee Sanders as well. Making it clear that she would never make fun of her appearance, an ironic nod to Michele Wolf last year, Bee completed Sanders on the hair and skin and then said that inside she was as hideous as an anodyne. Inside this woman is 90% stained. And I mean that medically. "
When Bee finished her opening monologue, she explained that she wanted to put Trump comfortably on the possibility that he was watching "because Tucker Carlson was running out of racism." She then turned to the camera and said, "Hi, champion, I know you are scared of being the target of a joke, but we could try to solve this problem. Next time, you feel a little weak in your knees and you do not know how to deal with something scary.You may be able to go to the Brownsville Detention Center and seek advice from an older child preschool that you stole from his parents.You will be able to face big bullies like me in no time. "
In those few moments, Bee did a great job in putting the blockade in context. What exactly is the indignation? A joke about the makeup of Sanders' eyes? Or an administration that separates young refugee children from their families?
In addition to Bee's performances, the dinner "The Association of Non-White House Correspondents" included skits from teachers and critics criticizing the failure to think that the news must be "fair and balanced". Even Robert De Niro, a vocal Trump The critic, who appeared at the event, said he was eagerly awaiting "the exquisite release" of the departure of the chairman of the board in 2020.
Bee's show was a scathing satire and she proved that while Trump was able to intimidate journalists, the comedians were ready and willing to fight for the First Amendment. It also showed us that comedians may be better able to respond to Trump's intimidation than the press.
While the press reacts to Trump's accusations of bias, often accommodating him more than necessary, the comedians refuse to entertain Trump's snowflake hysterics. If there is one thing that a comedian knows how to handle, is how to make fun of someone who can not take a joke.
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