CNN’s Jake Tapper sat down for an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday and was immediately asked about Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, which he attended.
When asked if he felt comedian Michelle Wolf went too far with her roasts of those in attendance, Tapper pointed out the hypocrisy of right-wingers criticizing her.
“It’s really interesting how many people in the Trump White House and the Trump-supporting media who are very offended about what they consider to be a very indecent performance by the comedian,” he said.
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He added, “I’ve been trying to have a conversation on my show about decency and about insults and smearing and about people saying things about other people that are not true and are just beyond the boundaries of good behavior.”
He went on to say that he welcomes a discussion about how people should speak about others, should the Trump administration and his supporters in the media be open to it, but he pointed out that there’s a long list of things they first need to address when it comes to their own leader.
“There’s a bunch of stuff that they need to get caught up on before we get to a comedian at the White House dinner,” he said. “We want to talk about whether it’s appropriate to say that John McCain isn’t a war hero because he was captured, and whether or not it’s ok to make fun of people with disabilities, or to make light of people who have drug and alcohol dependency issues, minorities, talking about women’s appearances in inappropriate ways. There’s a backup of material, if the Trump people want to talk about it. Then we can get to the comedians.”
It’s interesting to note, though, that Tapper’s criticism of the press was pointed solely at the “Trump-supporting media.” It’s worth noting that even reporters in the supposed liberal press — such as The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski — criticized Wolf’s comedy routine, particularly for her jokes against White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
