‘They are fakers…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson will headline this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the association announced this week.
Thompson will serve as the dinner’s host.
He will be joined by comedian Hasan Minhaj, a notorious hater of President Donald Trump who will be the featured entertainer, according to the WHCA.
Thompson’s and Minhaj’s presence shows that the WHCA is pivoting back to comedy for the first time since failed comedian Michelle Wolf insulted former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
While Thompson, a longtime SNL mainstay, is not known for having overtly political humor, Minhaj’s Netflix series “Patriot Act” has been unabashedly partisan, voicing extreme left-wing perspectives under the auspice of political satire.
“Kenan and Hasan are two of the most engaged and engaging entertainers in America,” claimed ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, president of the WHCA, in a statement.
“I’m thrilled they’ll help us celebrate the role of a free press in our democracy,” Karl continued. “We’re looking forward to a lively evening honoring the most important political journalism of the past year.”
President Trump has skipped the past three dinners of his presidency, calling the event “boring” and “negative.”
Last year, he chose to hold a rally in Wisconsin instead.
“They are fakers,” Trump told the crowd, “I’ll tell you, you know what sucks? Their ratings suck because people don’t believe them.”
After Wolf’s disastrous performance at the 2018 dinner, the WHCA last year asked presidential historian Ron Chernow to host the event instead.
Wolf had gone too far, the WHCA admitted, saying her routine was “not in the spirit” of the occasion. Wolf responded by calling the WHCA “cowards.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.