Michelle Wolf has become part of a prestigious group in the annals of White House Correspondents’ Dinner history — namely, the comedians who wind up becoming “controversial” because of jokes which offend the powerful.
What were the jokes in question? According to the widespread media outrage, they’re the ones that were directed at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and advisor Kellyanne Conway. Toward Sanders, Wolf joked that the press secretary looks like the villainous Aunt Lydia from “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She also commented that Sanders “burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies.”
Wolf added, as the punchline, “It’s probably lies.”
About Conway, Wolf quipped that the special counsel to the president “has the perfect last name for what she does: Conway. It’s like if my name was Michelle Jokes Frizzy Hair Small Tits.” She then urged the media to stop putting Conway on their shows, arguing that “if you don’t give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. It’s like that old saying: If a tree falls in the woods, how do we get Kellyanne under that tree? I’m not suggesting she gets hurt. Just stuck.”
The person at the top of the list of the offended was, not surprisingly, President Donald Trump himself.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a failure last year, but this year was an embarrassment to everyone associated with it. The filthy “comedian” totally bombed (couldn’t even deliver her lines-much like the Seth Meyers weak performance). Put Dinner to rest, or start over!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it. This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for. FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018
“It was personally offensive. To me, that was an attack to impress Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Congratulations, when the three of you go out to dinner, I’m sure you’ll be laughing a lot. But in terms of the people here and the people at home — totally offensive, horrible choice. In fact, it’s the reason why the president didn’t want to go,” Brian Kilmeade, a co-host of one of Trump’s favorite TV shows “Fox & Friends,” said in the ballroom, about Wolf’s speech, according to The New York Times.
Margaret Talev, president of the Correspondents’ Association, seemed to share Kilmeade’s perspective when she released a statement that agreed with the “dismay” felt by those who had attended.
“Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press. Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission,” Talev wrote.
Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, also felt that Wolf’s performance had crossed an important line.
That @PressSec sat and absorbed intense criticism of her physical appearance, her job performance, and so forth, instead of walking out, on national television, was impressive.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 29, 2018
Similar sentiments were expressed by Andrea Mitchell and Mika Brzezinski.
Apology is owed to @PressSec and others grossly insulted ny Michelle Wolf at White House Correspondents Assoc dinner which started with uplifting heartfelt speech by @margarettalev – comedian was worst since Imus insulted Clinton’s
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) April 29, 2018
CNN’s Chris Cillizza, who is no fan of either Trump or White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was also scathing in his assessment of Wolf’s performance.
I’m stunned that Sanders sat five feet away from Wolf and just took it.
Being funny is one thing. Bullying people because you can is another. And Wolf’s treatment of Sanders was bullying.
And, yes, by the way, Trump is a massive bully. Making fun of a disabled reporter, stereotyping ethnic groups, attacking reporters for how they look — all of that stuff is totally and completely unacceptable. And he knows exactly what he is doing, which makes it worse.
But two wrongs don’t make it right. Because Trump bullied a disabled reporter doesn’t mean Wolf should be able to bully Sarah Sanders. Bullying is bullying. And it’s wrong. Always.
He also noted that Wolf, who had been a relatively obscure comedian prior to the dinner, had most likely planned for the ensuing controversy to stimulate publicity for her new show.
On a related note, her Netflix series, “The Break With Michelle Wolf” — comes on May 27. She couldn’t buy better publicity for that show than she got with her speech on Saturday night.
Even if Cillizza is correct in ascertaining Wolf’s underlying motives for putting in such a controversial performance, it is important to note that she is hardly the first comedian to use the Correspondents’ Dinner platform for such a purpose. In 1996, shock jock Don Imus took repeated jabs at President Bill Clinton’s adultery and Hillary Clinton’s ongoing legal issues. Stephen Colbert’s famous roast of President George W. Bush during the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner helped garner publicity for his then-new show “The Colbert Report,” ultimately making his name into a household word. Five years later, Seth Meyers’ roast of Donald Trump — who had been making headlines by publicly insisting that President Barack Obama had not been born in the United States — managed to humiliate the reality TV star with the help of the president himself.
In other words: Wolf has merely carried on the tradition embodied by Colbert and Meyers. She has spoken truth to power and, like all comedians who do so, been accused of inappropriate behavior in the process.
Objectively speaking, her comments about Sanders did not involve her looks. When she joked about how Sanders “burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye,” the commentary was not on Sanders’ appearance, but on her dishonesty. Similarly, when she compared Sanders to Aunt Lydia (whom Sanders looks nothing like), the jab was at the expense of totalitarianism. You could make the argument that comparing the Trump administration to a dystopian society is extreme or even silly, but it’s absurd to claim that Wolf was trying to take down Sanders’ appearance.
Even the Conway joke was very carefully constructed. Wolf called Conway a liar — and appropriately so — and then emphasized that her joke about a tree falling on the counselor to the president was not meant to imply that she wished bodily harm to befall her. Indeed, Wolf made sure to turn that caveat into a punchline of its own by specifying that she didn’t want Conway to be injured, “just stuck.”
There are other commentators who have also jumped to Wolf’s defense on these issues.
Conservative commentator Ana Navarro told CNN’s New Day on Monday morning that Wolf should win the Nobel Peace Prize because she managed to do what “nobody else has been able to do: get Trump supporters to actually go on TV and defend women from being skewered and offended for their looks.” This was a reference to how Trump supporters want him nominated for the prize due to the recent peace talks between North Korea and South Korea.
Seems some ppl usually offended at lies & attacks on the media by Trump WH, today are offended a comedienne publicly calling out Trump WH on their lies & attacks on the media. But hey, fortunately in the Trump era, only politically-correct “snowflakes” should care about feelings. pic.twitter.com/r9FtRZaAhm
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) April 29, 2018
Kathy Griffin, the comedian who stirred up controversy last year with a photograph that showed her holding up a decapitated and bloody Trump head, went on a long Twitter stream defending Wolf and calling out the media’s hypocrisy in finding fault with her performance.
A) Ok I have some thoughts on @michelleisawolf's act and the reaction to it from members of the press and other DC insiders. For the record, I was in the room last night. @michelleisawolf's set was great. She was hilarious and confident.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
B) First, @michelleisawolf took no prisoners last night. She roasted Trump, Pence, White House staffers, the media, media personalities. Everyone is focused on Sanders but that was only 1 1/2 minutes of Michelle's act. She went after everyone…as it should be.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
C) @michelleisawolf was hired to do a roast. That was her job. She wasn't hired to offer media analysis or be fair and balanced. She was hired to poke fun at powerful people. Not once did she punch down. She focused on the people/institutions that are powerful beyond measure
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
D) A comic's job is to go over the line and then push the line and go over it again. Great comics aren't supposed to be safe or careful. That would mean we're not doing our job. By pushing the line we force people to think differently, to ask questions, and disrupt the status quo
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
E) Comics by their nature are anti-establishment. They are charged with the often unenviable task of going after people in power. It's a lot easier to tell jokes about the difference between LA and NYC or cats and dogs.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
F) Enough with holding everyone else but the President of the United States and his staff to higher standards. This does not mean i don't recognize that investigative journalists at the NYT and WAPO etc are doing their part to expose this administration..what I'm concerned about.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
G) Is that journalists often say they can't use certain language about Trump because they have to be objective. Fine. But they're willing to use words like "mean" about a comic's act? How is it objective to offer subjective commentary about a comic's joke's about POTUS?
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
H) Trump chooses not to attend the #WHCD – instead the White House said Sarah Sanders was attending in his place. She sat on the dais where the President usually sits. So of course she was going to get some of the toughest jokes, she was Trump's proxy.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
I) The calls for the @whca and @michelleisawolf to apologize are absurd. They're coming from reporters and many Trumpers. Trump has famously (and he says this himself) never truly apologized because he thinks it makes him look weak.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
J) And no the apology for the Access Hollywood tape doesn't count because now Trump goes around telling people he doesn't think the voice is his per NYT. So cut the bullshit.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
K) Andrea, it was nice to meet you last night and I respect your work as a journalist, but when's the last time you demanded Trump or WH staffers apologize for their horrific statements? When's the last time you demanded Trump apologize for being a birther?https://t.co/tn9HkDOOq9
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
L) By the way for the @Scaramucci @dmartosko's of the world please tell me why anyone should apologize when Trump has never apologized for lying for years about Obama's birthplace and then at a press conference took no responsibility for it and lied again.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
M) I'll tell you what has the media so upset, because @michelleisawolf told the truth about them last night and the role they played in allowing Trump's rise. They hate to be called out on their bullshit, it's painful..I get it. But she said what needed to be said.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
N) So journalists are willing to demand that a comic hired to roast people apologize but they aren't willing to demand that Trump or his staff apologize to people? Is that where we're at now? Can someone explain the difference to me?
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
O) This administration (and the reporters who intentionally or indirectly support it) are always demanding that artists apologize. From the Hamilton Cast to me to @michelleisawolf. But they never apologize for anything.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
P) Also @michelleisawolf never talked about Sanders' appearance, she was talking about her character. But anyone pearl clutching over her comments and demanding she apologize needs to demand that Trump apologize for calling women fat pigs, slobs, talking about their bodies
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
Q) Not to mention, apologize for comments like "blood coming out of her…" – but no they haven't demanded that of him because they're terrified of Trump. Instead, they go after a comic who is paid to make jokes. They go after her instead of a man with real power. Pathetic.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
R) BS @dmartosko. Sarah was there on the dais as a proxy for the President. That’s how the White House billed It. Michelle couldn’t just focus on just Trump because he was too scared to show up. https://t.co/x76JdWjvDP
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
S) Stop acting like @michelleisawolf showed up at the playground and started making fun of Sarah Sanders in front of her children. Sarah was there representing Trump, on the dais, at an event with a professional comic who was hired to do a roast.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
T) This is such bullshit! @michelleisawolf told some jokes and you condemn her? You are a bunch of enablers. https://t.co/Hbp1OroAnn
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
U) What people are forgetting is how many people/institutions she hit in her act. In fact, while all these reporters are preaching about their objectivity, Michelle was in many ways more objective than them. She went after MSNBC, the liberal media and their Russia obsession..
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
V) She went after CNN, hell she even went for the conservative holy grail…Ted Kennedy and Chappaquiddick! But all everyone is talking about is 1 1/2 minutes of her act involving Sarah Sanders. You think the GOP would be saavy enough to enjoy her other comments.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
W. @michelleisawolf did what a good roast master does…she spread the roast around..everyone got hit. That's the way you do it, so people can walk away not feeling like they were targeted, but that the roast master took down the whole room.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
X. But who am I kidding, even if @michelleisawolf's set was boring as oatmeal, as long as Trumpers were criticized in any way, they would find a way to hate it. They are humorless and never want to encounter criticism in any form.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
Y. I really hope the @whca doesn't stop having comics at the dinner to serve as roast master. It's one of the few occasions the most powerful people in the world (including the President) are held accountable via comedy. It's an important tradition. It's an important message.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
Z. Just imagine when people around the world see the @WHCA dinner and see a comic making fun of the President…isn't that what we used to be about? Offering hope? Setting an example?
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
CNN’s Chris Cuomo also took a stand against the attacks on Wolf, chiding conservative commentator Matt Schlapp for being outraged at Wolf’s jokes while ignoring Trump’s own demeaning comments about women’s appearance.
“You’re not as upset about what the President of the United States says on a regular basis — and he’s not joking! So if you’re going to care about a comedian and be so offended by what jokes failed or didn’t fail, then where is it there?” Cuomo asked Schlapp.
Perhaps Arwa Mahdawi of The Guardian summed up this view best:
If anything, the likes of Haberman, Brzezinski, and Mitchell owe America an apology. They’re all incredibly smart women with extremely important jobs. They’re supposed to be holding power to account, not sucking up to it. Rushing to defend Sanders under a veil of faux-feminism is beneath all of them.
What’s more, urging Wolf to apologize for what should have been an uncontroversial joke sends an incredibly dangerous message. It suggests that it’s not OK to criticize the president and his people. And it lends credence to Trump’s repeated claims that the mainstream media is out to get him.
