Larry Wilmore Pisses Off Media, Calls the President His Nigga at White House Correspondents Dinner
If success as the host of the White House Correspondent’s dinner is measured by the disapproval of the media, Larry Wilmore can mark this one down as a giant win. Wilmore made his mark Saturday night at the White House Correspondents Dinner by skewering his fellow media members, but all that will be forgotten on Monday morning when the conversation in the media turns 100% to whether he crossed the line referring to the POTUS as “Barry…my nigga.”
He opened his remarks welcoming everyone to “negro night” made remarks about Hillary, Trump, Cruz and the Bern, skewered the media, and closed with by using his signature bit, “Keeping it 100.” The laughs came from Wilmore’s tamest material, like an Al Sharpton hair relaxer joke, some jokes about the President’s graying hair, and some mild Bernie Sanders is so old jokes. The highlights were the remarks that elicited the biggest groans. Here are a few of them.
He got his first big groan from the crowd before he hit the two minute mark with his line “I am a black man, who replaced a white man who pretended to be a tv newscaster. In that way, Lester Holt and I have a lot in common.”
“I’ve been watching CNN a long time. I used to watch it back when it was a news network. I don’t know about you guys but I can’t get enough of that cnn countdown clock. Now we can see exactly when they hit zero in the ratings.”
“Speaking of drones, how is Wolf Blitzer still on television? Ask a follow up question. Hey Wolf, I’m ready to project Tonight’s winner. anyone who isn’t watching the Situation Room.”
He called Don Lemon an “alleged journalist” and got a friendly fuck you finger in return from Lemon.
Wilmore’s initial joke about the NJ Governor got a light laugh, followed by a rolling groan, when he said, “Chris Christie was supposed to be here tonight, I don’t know if he made it. He RSVP’d for three. Him, his wife and Donald Trump’s dry cleaning.” Then he added “Chris lost a lot of weight though didn’t he? He said he just eliminated everything from his routine that wasn’t necessary like his self pride and dignity.” No one laughed prompting Wilmore to add, “you guys are tough, man.”
Wilmore also called out the print media for being old or dead, had a full two full minutes of Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer jokes, a Kelly Ripa/Michael Strahan joke that got a much louder groan than it should have, he got applause for a joke about North Carolina bathroom-gate (“If Hillary were suddenly a man her biggest problem would be finding a bathroom she could use in North Carolina”), and made a jigaboo joke that might have been the talk of the evening if it hadn’t been for his closing statements.
He closed with some heart to heart, saying, “all jokes aside let me just say how much it means to me to be here tonight. I’ve always joked that I voted for the President because he’s black and people say so you agree with his policies and I would say I agree with the policy that he’s black. As long as he keeps being black i’m good. wha about iraq? Is he still black? But behind that joke is a humble appreciation for the historical implications for what your Presidency means. When I was a kid, I lived in a country where people couldn’t accept a black quarterback. Now thini about that, a black man was thought about by his mere color as not good enough to lead a football team. And now to live in your time, Mr. President when a black man can lead the entire free world. Words alone do me no justice.
So Mr. President, I’m going to keep it 100. Yo Barry, you did it my nigga.”
Wilmore followed the Prez, who was cool as a cucumber, as the reigning king of media appearances. Nobody has made more of an effort to connect with every corner of his constituency via television in all it’s forms than Obama. His remarks that were less controversial, pleasantly funny, and got some laughs.
His most memorable moment was his cool-Prez close. He told his press guests, “I want to close my last White House Correspondent’s dinner by just saying thank you. I’m very proud of what you’ve done. It has been an honor and a privilege to work side by side with you to strengthen our democracy and with that I just have two more words to say. Obama Out,” and with that he put two fingers up to his lips and did a mic drop.
You can watch the President’s full remarks for yourself below.
