Amber Ruffin Mocks WHCA for Dropping Her From Dinner: ‘We Have a Free Press so That We Can Be Nice to Republicans’ | Video

Amber Ruffin on Monday brutally mocked the White House Correspondents Association for canceling her planned headlining gig — and ditching comedy entirely – at its annual dinner later this month.

Roasting WHCA during a brief appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (where she also serves as a writer), Ruffin effectively called the organization’s board members cowards and ridiculed their commitment to journalism and the truth.

“I thought when people take away your rights, erase your history and deport your friends, you’re supposed to call it out. But I was wrong.”

“We have a free press so that we can be nice to Republicans at fancy dinners. That’s what it says in the First Amendment,” she said elsewhere.

Watch that clip below:

Ruffin was announced back in February as the headliner of the 2025 White House Correspondents Association Dinner, which traditionally features a comedian who roasts attendees and the current president. But on Saturday, WHCA president Eugene Daniels informed members that the board had voted unanimously to cancel Ruffin’s set, a decision he asserted was to meant “ensure the focus is not on the politics of division.”

Meyers’ mentioned all of that in his monologue, adding, “I just want to take a moment to say that I’m a big fan of Amber Ruffin, and I would have liked to hear what she had to say.” He then started to tell an unrelated monologue joke about a robbery at a New York bodega when Ruffin ran out on stage to interrupt.

“I’m concerned with how you’re going to end that joke,” she said, to which Meyers replied, “you’re concerned how? Well, I mean, obviously I’m going to make a punchline making fun of the guy who robbed the bodega.”

“See. Seth, the problem is that’s divisive. Take it from me. If there’s one thing I learned from this weekend, it’s you have to be fair to both sides,” she said.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Meyers protested. “It makes sense in this case, you know, there’s an innocent Bodega owner. There’s a burglar…”

“Or, hear me out, there are very fine people on both sides,” Ruffin insisted.

“Yeah but he shattered the front door of a bodega,” Meyers countered.

“Did he? Or did he provide an innovative ventilation system,” Ruffin responded.

“Yeah but he stole the cash out of the register,” Meyers said. “He received a micro loan,” Ruffin insisted.

“He set fire to the ATM,” Meyers said. “He bravely fought inflation. Thank you for your service,” Ruffin replied.

Meyers set up Ruffin’s larger point when he told her, “When people are objectively terrible, we should be able to point it out on television.”

“I thought that too on Friday,” Ruffin said, “but today is Monday, and Monday’s Amber Ruffin knows that when bad people do bad things, you have to treat them fairly and respectfully. When you watch ‘The Sound of Music,’ you have to root for the singing children and the other people.”

“You mean the Nazis?” Meyers asked. “Calling them. That is so one sided,” Ruffin joked.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating? Meyers asked, to which Ruffin bleakly replied, “for now.”

“That’s just the whole reason we have a free press is so we can report stories, you know, as they actually happen,” Meyers continued.

“No, we have a free press so that we can be nice to Republicans at fancy dinners. That’s what it says in the First Amendment… But the point is that you’re sowing the seeds of discord. And I used to be the same way. I thought when people take away your rights, erase your history and deport your friends, you’re supposed to call it out. But I was wrong,” Ruffin went on.

“Glad to find that out now, because if they had let me give that speech, baby, I would have been so terrifically mean,” she continued before joking, “I have to return the dress I was gonna wear to the Correspondence Dinner. I already took the tags off, but I’m gonna just say they blew off in the wind.”

“‘Yeah, but that’s that’s lying Amber. That’s wrong,” Meyers interjected.

“Ah ah ah, you can’t say that,” Ruffin replied. “That’s journalism.“

Just in case anyone watching might have missed what she was implying, as she said the world “journalism,” Ruffin looked directly into the camera and gave a huge comical wink.

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