Comedian Michelle Wolf kicked up controversy Saturday evening at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, DC. Her jokes about White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders quickly became a point of contention online.
Wolf, a former Daily Show correspondent and host of an upcoming Netflix late-night show, skewered Sanders as the press secretary sat just a few seats away from her onstage. Wolf compared Sanders to Aunt Lydia — a fearsome character from the dystopian Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale who re-educates women into subjugation and enforces strict punishment on them — and drew attention to the press secretary’s lying, saying she was an “Uncle Tom for white women.”
Here’s what Wolf said:
We are graced with Sarah’s presence tonight. I have to say I’m a little star-struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale. Mike Pence, if you haven’t seen it, you would love it.
Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited, because I’m not really sure what we’re going to get — you know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. “It’s shirts and skins, and this time don’t be such a little bitch, Jim Acosta!”
I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.
And I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders, you know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Cousin Huckabee, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter.
Reactions That Followed
"Sarah Sanders burns facts and then uses them to create the perfect smokey-eye. Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's lies."
— Michelle Wolf#WHCD
— Charlotte Clymer????️???? (@cmclymer) April 29, 2018
Sarah Sanders lies to the press and public every day and journalists are indignant because a comedian made jokes about her? Thanks for telling us exactly who you are. In that regard, this dinner truly is a public service.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) April 29, 2018
It's funny how a low budget, no name comedian can use her first amendment rights to say the vilest things about Sarah Sanders, yet the left protects her by saying "it's her Free Speech" but when it comes to @DiamondandSilk Free Speech the left calls it a hoax #hypocrites pic.twitter.com/KUKw2O0ZB7
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) April 29, 2018
When I hear Sarah Sanders should have walked out on correspondence dinner, I'm amazed.
It's the press who should be walking out on Sarah. It's an embarrassment that they report her lie sessions as news.
Wolf told the truth. That's more than Sarah or 99% of the press ever do
— Tim Crowley (@AlohaTimAloha) April 29, 2018
Let’s not be more upset about the jokes at Sarah sanders then the actual lies she tells.
— MommaT (@tweetmommybop) April 29, 2018
If you are mad at Michelle Wolf then go look at the mirror and be mad at the person you see for not caring that Sarah Sanders lies to the American people every fuvking day.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) April 29, 2018
