CNN’s Don Lemon and Jake Tapper were not immune from the media roast that the White House Corresondents Dinner can become. In his final WHCD remarks, President Obama talked about how staffers and correspondents have moved on: “Savannah Guthrie left the White House press corps to host the Today show. Norah O’Donnell left the briefing room to host CBS This Morning. Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN.” A camera cut away to show Tapper grinning and taking a sip of his drink.
Larry Wilmore’s set fell flat with many in the audience, as he took shots at CNN, Fox News and MSNBC: “Have you guys seen, [MSNBC] fired Melissa Harris-Perry, they canceled Joy Reid, booted Toure. MSNBC got rid of so many black people I thought Boko Haram was running that network.”
Then came the Don Lemon joke: “Some of America’s finest black journalists are here tonight. Don Lemon is here, too. Alleged journalist Don Lemon, everybody.” The camera cut away long enough to catch Lemon flipping off Wilmore. But all’s well. They caught up later for this:
EXCLU #WHCD final finger as pals @larrywilmore & @donlemon very cool 2gether – from mutual agent Jay Sures of UTA pic.twitter.com/Ogya98eLvi
— Dominic Patten (@DeadlineDominic) May 1, 2016