On Amber Ruffin and the Amazing Disappearing White House Correspondents Dinner

Back in March of this year, comedienne Amber Ruffin was announced as the featured entertainer at this year’s White House Correspondents Association dinner. It was all set in stone. The event was a go. Amber is an incredible comedienne, a pioneer in late-night television (when she joined Late Night with Seth Meyers' writing team, she became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States), and more than deserving of the spotlight she was offered.

And then, during a podcast appearance, Amber called out the hateful, murderous actions of y'all's president and his cronies and made clear her focus at the White House Correspondents dinner would largely be on the president's actions.

And just like that, Amber Ruffin was out.

And just like that, Eugene Daniels, the White House Correspondents Association's president, said the group wanted to "refocus" the annual event on journalistic excellence and wouldn’t have a comedian going forward.

And just like that, y'all's president declared that the Correspondents dinner was no longer an event that acting presidents needed to attend, defeating the purpose of the whole thing, because he was obviously uncomfortable with his massive flaws being on display.

I posted about this back in March, as I felt it was a red flag for the abuses of Black women I saw on the horizon as well as the deterioration of free speech. Most of y'all didn't engage with that post.

But a whole lot of y'all engaged with my posts around Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.

And while those cancellations are scary and emblematic of the direction we're going in as a country, guess what?

So was Amber's situation.

Where was y'all's outrage then? Wanna talk about that? Of course you don't. Y'all ain't ready for that kind of conversation.

Y'all also ain't ready to talk about the Venn Diagram of liberal viewpoints, anti-Blackness, and anti-Black woman and Black femme ideologies that so many of y'all be doin' the butterfly and the Tootsie Roll on while patting yourself on the back for standing up for something.

Holla at me when y'all are ready to chat.

[Image description: A picture of Black female comedienne Amber Ruffin, laughing while sitting on a red couch.]

Image description: A picture of Black female comedienne Amber Ruffin, laughing while sitting on a red couch.

On Crossing Streets, Clutching Pearls, and the "Danger" Debate

It's wild to me that people of pallor still do that thing to me where they see me coming and cross the street, clutch their purse, pull their kids "out of harm's way", or recoil in general when they see me in a store, restaurant, or out on a walk, minding my Black business. After 43 years on this planet, with at least 33 of those years spent observing this nonsense, I can't help but be amused by how ridiculous many people of pallor are with these ignorant antics.

People of pallor, I think I can speak for almost all Black people when I say that - and I cannot emphasize this enough - WE DON'T WANT YOU.

We're not out to get you. When we're out and about, living our lives? We don't want to engage with you unless we have to. We don't want anything in your purse.

And we definitely don't want yo' kids.

The overwhelming majority of us aren't out here to "endanger" people of pallor. We seriously don't want to be involved in any messiness with y'all, no matter how miniscule it may seem. We're just out here trying to live in a world that hates us, yet we're always painted as a threat to said world. It's preposterous. It's weak. It's old. And I think I can speak for most Black folx when I say that the less interactions and engagements we have to have with most people of pallor, the better.

In this economy? In this increasingly hostile country we live in?

No thank you.

Y'all are, and continue to be, more of a threat to Black bodies than we are to y'all, and you don't need to Google that to know that it's true.

I'm at the store, pink headphones on, listenin' to Clipse and buyin' some Triscuits, not even thinkin' of you, while you out here fleeing in terror and trying to get the attention of a staff member because melanin has "invaded" what you believe is "your space" and you feel squirmy in your white supremacist, anti-Black tummy.

Chile, please.

Your stomach feels that bad, you probably need to be grabbin' some Triscuits too.

On Messiahs, Deities, and Identities

Image description: At the top of the frame is a picture of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, MLK, a depiction of Jesus Christ, and Charlie Kirk standing above the sentence, "All because of words." Below that image is a smattering of confused faces trying to process the contents of the image.

It's intriguing to me how much so many people of pallor desperately want, or even need, a modern-day figurehead for their whiteness. So many people of pallor want that one person to look up to, to follow, to be an identity for their beliefs, and it's been mind-bogglingly dangerous to watch unfold.

There are so many people of pallor who really want their own Martin Luther King, Jr., which is ironic, seeing how they hated that man with every fiber of their being for being a voice of unity and non-violence and the people they earmark to be their version of MLK are, well, the complete opposite of that.

They desperately long for the person they can position as their next coming of Jesus, to the point where there's a whole MAGA Christian sect that view y'all's president as the messiah.

(Side note: if you're not familiar with the MAGA Christians and their "prophets," it's wilder than you may think it is. I would say, "Don't Google 'em," but you're probably already doing it, so good luck.)

And now, a white supremacist bigot, racist, xenophobe, transphobe, and misogynist is being deified by people of pallor across the United States for being a "civil rights activist" and "voice of the people."

But here's the thing, people of pallor: you wouldn't have to be constantly searching for an identity if your ancestors didn't make it their mission to remove your identities, homogenize you, and vilify the identities of others to make your homogenization feel superior in your heads.

You wouldn't always be on the hunt for a new messiah if you didn't feel your current belief set was sufficient enough to support your hate and white supremacy.

You wouldn't always fall for snake oil salesmen sellin' y'all soda water and tonics as the cure for all of your ills if so many of y'all weren't so desperate to be loved and lied to by these "prophets"and grifters who only care about your money and adulation.

And deep down inside, most people of pallor know this.

But a lot of y'all ain't ready for that kind of conversation. And the way so many of y'all act like lemmings?

You'll probably never be.

Enjoy walking off the cliff, following your idols - just stop trying to take the rest of us with you on the way down.

[Image description: At the top of the frame is a picture of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, MLK, a depiction of Jesus Christ, and Charlie Kirk standing above the sentence, "All because of words." Below that image is a smattering of confused faces trying to process the contents of the image.]

On Workplaces, Impending Doom, and Wearing a Smile

Workplaces are really expecting us to show up right now every day with a smile on our face and not a care in the world other than a project deadline or deliverable.

I guess we're supposed to just act like nothing's happening?

I guess we're supposed to leave all of this descent into autocracy and dictatorship and the absolute dread, anxiety, and fear it's creating for so many of us in the car or at home?

That's what white supremacist workplace culture wants, so if we want to maintain employment we better put on our smiley face masks.

Geezus.

Acting like something isn't happening and expecting us all to cater to that doesn't stop it from happening and permeating every aspect of our lives, including work.

Expecting Brown folx, Black folx, Black women, femmes, trans folx, and folx with disabilities to show up and "be OK" while the world around us gets increasingly more heavy is a clear marker that these workplaces do not care about us.

But y'all already knew that.

Y'all just like us better when we smile more and preserve the feelings of those who want to exist outside of reality.

On Racial Profiling, Pallor Shock, Performative Actions, and Saying the Not-So-Quiet Parts Out Loud

So, y'all's Supreme Court went ahead and legalized racial profiling, finally making sure the not-so-quiet part was out there loud and proud. And while many Black and Brown folx are now mulling over a new, now legal addition to the list of things you evidently can't do while Black or Brown, I'm seeing the usual wave of shocked people of pallor grappling with the notion that it's OK to pull Black and Brown folx over based on their perceived appearance.

"I can't believe this is happening."

"The rule of law is gone."

"We're all in danger."

"I'm not going to stand for this."

"We need to stand up together and fight."

So...you're shocked. About racial profiling. In 2025. And now you want to fight the system because it's "gone too far."

Oh, bless your "militant" lil' hearts of pallor.

Y'all are truly exhausting.

Yes, it's scary as hell that the country that has been profiling Black and Brown people for hundreds of years suddenly got the "right" people of pallor in place to make it the law of the land. It's pretty horrific, actually. I'm even more scared for my Black and Brown brethren than I've ever been. But you know what? I live in the United States.

I'VE ALWAYS BEEN SCARED FOR MY BLACK AND BROWN BRETHREN.

C'mon, y'all. Did people of pallor forget about all the murders of thousands of Black and Brown folx at the hands of law enforcement with no cause? The video footage, the failed verdicts, the lack of justice? Like, did y'all forget about Stop and Frisk? Where was all this outrage then, huh? Where were y'all at then?

Oh, I get it. You think YOU'RE in danger now because it's officially the law of the land, so it's relevant to you now.

That's on brand.

Even in the face of y'all callin' yourselves standing up for Black and Brown lives you find a way to make it about yourself while pulling out your virtue signal so your fellow people of pallor will see you as one of the good ones.

Don't worry: you're "safe." They won't mistake you for me or anyone else with melanin, even if your spray tan and collagen lips got you out here looking like a sentient fruit leather that, if you squint out of one eye and cover the other, could be mistaken as a person of color by a racist cop.

Save your shock and outrage for fuel to actually do something other than write a long post or post a video on social media about a reality you've failed to acknowledge until it made you squirmy in your tum-tum.

[Image description: A plate of dark red fruit leathers. They are bumpy in texture and shiny in appearance.]

Image description: A plate of dark red fruit leathers. They are bumpy in texture and shiny in appearance.