No invite, no problem. Samantha Bee revealed on Monday, January 30, that she’s throwing her own event on the same night as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 29.
The Full Frontal With Samantha Bee host, 47, announced the counter-event will be called “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” and will include a line-up of comedians making jokes about President Donald Trump and his administration. All proceeds from the party will go to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“We’re not trying to supersede it,” Bee told The New York Times of the annual gala for journalists who cover the White House and the POTUS. “We just want to be there in case something happens — or doesn’t happen — and ensure that we get to properly roast the president.”
The outspoken comedian explained that she came up with the idea while chatting with the producers of her eponymous show. “We were talking out loud about whether we thought the White House Correspondents’ dinner would change during a Trump presidency, or if it would even exist,” she said, given that the business mogul, 70, has a rocky relationship with the press. “And then we thought, ‘Why don’t we just do one, just to do it in the way that we would want it done if we were hosting it?’”
It is customary for a comic to host the WHCD and poke fun at the current president. Past hosts have included Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Larry Wilmore and Joel McHale. This year’s host has yet to be announced, but the TBS TV personality, who has been an outspoken Trump critic on her show, wasn’t waiting for an offer to emcee. “My assumption is that that invitation is not coming and I don’t blame them for that,” Bee told The New York Times.
She also jabbed Trump for the lack of A-list performers at his inauguration weekend and noted that it may be difficult to find a comedian willing to host. “I think that’s going to be very challenging. Does 3 Doors Down do comedy?” she quipped. “I don’t know, maybe they do.”
