Comedian Amber Ruffin explained why she was axed from Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Tuesday night’s episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
Ruffin was originally slated to headline the WHC Dinner, joining a long line of comedians who traditionally help break the ice for an otherwise buttoned-up event. However, after a White House deputy chief of staff raised concerns about Ruffin’s critical comments about Donald Trump, the White House Correspondents’ Association removed her from the event in an effort to “ensure the focus is not on the politics of division,” according to the organization.
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When asked why she was cut from the event, Ruffin said she felt it would’ve been “impossible” to make jokes about both Democrats and Republicans, considering the actions of the current presidential administration.
“I had said that it would be impossible to make jokes about both sides,” Ruffin said. “We are at a point now where one side is snatching people up off the street and putting them on a plane, and the other side is, you know, not doing that. So I just thought it would be impossible to make jokes about both sides.”
Ruffin said she was “really, really sad for like two hours” after she heard her appearance had been canceled, but then she “had brunch” and felt “great.”
“I thought if they didn’t want me doing that show before I had even opened my mouth, then they would have been really, really sad with what they got,” Ruffin said. “Also, after they fired me, I looked back at my Google Doc and was like, this would have been bad. They would not have liked it.”
Although at first Ruffin painted a controversial picture of her WHC Dinner material, she said she would’ve closed her appearance on an uplifting note.
“I was going to end it [by saying], ‘This administration is trying to get you to hate other people and that’s not your natural state,’” she explained. “Human beings are made to love one another…And they got you by convincing you that you are filled with hate and you absolutely aren’t. It’s the opposite of what you’re made for and saying that out loud now makes me glad that I got canceled.”
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