Funniest moments from President Biden's White House Correspondents' Dinner

President Joe Biden’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday was all about hishumour and wit. Biden seized the opportunity to take jabs at some of his biggest critics -from Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk to politician Kevin McCarthy. He even cracked jokes on himself, speaking about his age in self-deprecating humour.

The annual White House Correspondents'Dinner is usually a light-hearted affair. It is held every year to "promote excellence in journalism"and works ‘to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency.’ Biden rises to the occasion and threw balanced jokes right and left on media figures, politicians and himself.

White House Correspondents'Dinner 2023

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The White House Correspondents' Dinner is an annual affair that is being held since 1920, with a few exceptions. The event is a light-hearted look at the past year’s politics. In 2020 and 2021, the White House Correspondents' Dinner was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before all the fun and humour, Biden mentioned that free press is a "pillar of a free society, not the enemy".He then took the names of some of the best journalists in America and thanked them amidst applause from the attendees.

He then said, “Tonight, our message is this: Journalism is not a crime.”

In case you missed Biden’s speech from Saturday, here are some of the best moments from his speech:

Classic joke on his age and dig at The New York Times

In self-deprecating humour, Biden, 80, addressed people’s concerns about his age head-on. “I get that age is a completely reasonable issue," he quipped. "It's on everyone's mind, by everyone I mean The New York Times." The president called out the paper for treating him differently from his predecessor, Donald Trump, and highlighted the double standards he faced. He even read the headline out loud, “Biden’s advanced age is a big issue. Trump’s, however, is not.”

Aiming comic fires at Rupert Murdoch

Biden hit out at the 92-year-old owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, saying sarcastically that he likes him. "How can I dislike a guy who makes me look like Harry Styles?" The crowd erupted in laughter, appreciating the president's ability to poke fun at himself and his advanced age.

Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, in Biden’s comedic crosshairs

Just days after CNN fired Don Lemon for his controversial comments about women over 40, the president also took a hit at the formeranchor. “CNN was like, ‘Wow! Do they actually have $787 million? Whoa!’” he quipped.

"Call me old, I call it being seasoned. You say I am ancient, I say I'm wise," Biden said. He then joked: "You say I'm over the hill, Don Lemon would say, 'That's a man in his prime,'" poking fun at the former CNN anchor who was fired for his sexist and ageist comments against Nikki Haley.

The Dominion lawsuit was a hot topic

It was no surprise that the highly publicised defamationtrial against Fox News, which reached a settlement a few weeks back, made it to the White House.

"Your favourite Fox News reporters were able to attend last year as they were fully vaccinated and boosted. This year, with that $787 million settlement, they’re here because they couldn’t say no to a free meal.”

"I'd call Fox 'Honest, fair and truthful.' But then I'd be sued for defamation," Biden cracked to a packed ballroom in Washington, DC.

Trump and DeSantis were not spared either

Biden joked about his predecessorDonald Trump’s recent scandals. He joked that he was offered $10 to keep his remarks less than ten minutes. “That’s a switch, a president being offered hush money,” he joked in reference to Trump’s indictment in an alleged hush money scheme.

Biden also poked fun at Florida GovernorRon DeSantis, against whom Disney filed a lawsuit accusing him of punishing the company for exercising free speech rights with his political influence.

“I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready, but Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me, he got there first,” Biden said.
DeSantis is likely to be thetop candidate for the GOP presidential nomination if he enters the 2024 race.

Wood Jr.’s witty monologue

Wood Jr. started his monologue with a reference to the settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting System. Speaking of the members of the press, he said, “Y’all look good. You’re dressed nice, you got the nice threads on, and you got the jewellery glistening. Look like everybody got a little piece of that settlement money from Fox News.”

Biden’s classified documents

It was a quick joke, but one of Wood Jr.’s best jokes of the night came soon after he took the stage. Fiddling with a piece of paper, he remarked to President Biden, “I think you left some of your classified documents up here.”

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