Larry Wilmore courtesy of social media
Comedian Larry Wilmore may have gone too far Saturday when he hosted President Barack Obama’s Annual Correspondent Dinner.
In a hotel room packed with the who’s who in entertainment, politics and journalism, the co-creator of such hit shows as “The Bernie Mac Show” and “blackish” delivered jokes that were clearly in bad taste and ignited controversy throughout the country.
“Welcome to Negro Night here, or as they say at Fox, ‘two thugs disrupting an elegant dinner’ in Washington,” Wilmore blurted in his opening set, almost immediately drawing gasps from the crowd of 2,699 attendees.
During the spate of the Nightly Show comedian’s lengthy, sometimes yawning monologue, he took cheap shots at the media, calling many of them out by name.
“How is Wolf Blitzer still on television? Ask a follow-up question! Wolf, I am ready to announce a winner: Anyone who isn’t watching The Situation Room!”
As the comedian continued to chide the press, many guests—especially the ones who didn’t find his set amusing—began playing on their cell phones, while others seemed to cringe in their seats.
“CNN is here tonight. 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 when they hit zero in the ratings,”
At one point he called out CNN reporter Don Lemon, “Some of America’s finest black journalists are here tonight. Don Lemon is here too, Hey, Don! How’s it going, alleged journalist Don Lemon.” That’s when Lemon gave him the finger.
The conventional dinner soon became a comedy roast where Wilmore even attacked the president’s age.
“Look at you. Your hair is so white it tried to punch me at a Trump rally,” Wilmore said.
As he drew moans and boos from the audience, Wilmore ended his distasteful speech by calling America’s first Black president, ” my n*gga!”
National Action Network president and MSNBC host Al Sharpton told reporters: “Wilmore’s comic monologue at the dinner was all right until he dropped the N-word.”
“I think he was trying to in his own way to act like he was relating,” Sharpton said. “But relating to who? Or what? I really didn’t like it.”
