Roy Wood Jr. hosted the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and skewered recently fired cable news hosts Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson.
Wood, who plays a reporter on The Daily Show, kept the crowd laughing Saturday night at the Washington Hilton with jokes about President Biden, Cardi B, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the Dominion voting lawsuit that cost Fox News $787.5 million.
Then he turned his attention to “a–hole” Don Lemon and “hate” magnet Tucker Carlson
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Lemon and Carlson were both fired from their cable news hosting jobs on Monday morning. While the two worked for different networks, Wood said both were frequently dogged by “scandals.”
“Tonight, we are all unified by one thing, and that’s scandal,” the comedian quipped. “Scandals have been devouring careers this year.”
“Don Lemon released a statement saying he got fired from CNN, then CNN released a statement saying that they offered Don a meeting,” Wood said. “They had to part ways because Don Lemon can’t even accurately report a story about Don Lemon.”
“Letting Don go was the wrong move,” he added. “You shouldn’t have let him go, not this soon CNN. First off, Don was fine when you were letting him drink, you shouldn’t have cut off his liquor. You don’t fire your host after the first couple of scandals. The scandals got to stack up. You gotta get the ratings. Yes, Don Lemon was a diva and he said a couple of women are raggedy in the face. But that’s a promotion at Fox News!”
The comedian compared ousted Fox News Host Tucker Carlson to Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval, who was caught cheating on his longtime girlfriend and co-star Ariana Madix with their fellow co-star, Raquel Leviss.
“Tucker got caught up. Got caught up like that dude from Vanderpump Rules,” Wood quipped. “I don’t know what Vanderpump Rules is about, I’ve watched it a couple of times. My friends told me it’s like BMF but for white people. Or is that Succession? No, Succession is Power for white people. No, Tucker Carlson is Power for white people. No, that’s white power, you know what, nevermind.”
Wood urged President Biden to lobby for Carlson to get his job back.
“We gotta get Tucker Carlson back on the air, mister president, because right now, there’s millions of Americans who don’t even know why they hate you,” he said to laughter.
He also took aim at Fox News.
“Fox claimed Dominion conspired with the Democrats to rig the (2020) election. The Democrats should be flattered that they thought y’all was smart enough to rig an election,” he quipped.
The gathering was carried live on C-SPAN. The annual event is held to support the White House Correspondents’ Association and to raise scholarship money for aspiring journalists, the WHCA says on its website.
This weekend’s dinner was attended by President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, cable news stars, and celebrities including Gayle King, Sunny Hostin, Rosario Dawson, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, Winnie Harlow, Ego Nwodim, Brittney Griner and Cherelle Griner, Jerry O’Connell, and reality stars Lisa Vanderpump and Ariana Madix.
Watch the video of Wood’s comments below:
