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April 1, 2025 - Lionel Nation
24:14
Amber Ruffin CANCELED at the White House Correspondents' Dinner—Is America Finally Waking Up?
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First, I'm not going to talk about what's funny.
I'm not going to talk about the devolution of comedy.
I'm not going to talk about any of this stuff.
Before you think that's what I'm going to do, I'm not going to do that.
I hate that.
What's funny to you is funny to you.
I don't care what it is.
It doesn't matter.
It really doesn't matter.
Open season.
You can say whatever you want.
It's a free country.
That doesn't mean you're not going to feel the repercussions of your joke.
But please say it.
And if you like jokes, if you like the worst jokes, there was a publication years ago called Maledicta.
It was called the Journal of Verbal Aggression.
And they looked at the way people cursed and cussed and jokes around the world.
And there was a scholarly article on dead baby jokes, written by somebody from a Middle Eastern country who said, this is rather rare, but we wondered.
And he looked in a scholarly approach at, when I was a kid, you heard like three of them and then you moved on.
But the point that I'm saying was, humor is humorous.
Now, I'm not a purveyor of that.
I don't think it's funny.
I'm not telling you that if you think Milton Berle's funny or Emo Phillips or Dave Chappelle, whatever makes you laugh is up to you.
Period.
End of discussion.
Now, that doesn't mean that there's always an audience for that.
That's a different story.
Remember this.
Remember what old Uncle Lenny tells you here.
Pick the hill you want to die on.
You want to tell that joke?
Good.
It'll ruin your career, but you do it.
You go ahead and you do it.
And the idea that the White House, now under Trump, does not have a sense of humor.
Let me tell you something.
If I was picked as a White House Correspondents Dinner Comedian and I made jokes about Joe Biden being incontinent and sharting himself, I don't think anybody would have me on.
That's not because there's no First Amendment, but people allow certain things in certain contexts.
So now that we've got that prefatory That pro-am.
I want to talk about somebody named Amber Ruffin.
Now, I know what you're going to say.
Who's that?
I've never heard of that.
Well, I don't follow the comedy genre.
Just because I don't know a name doesn't mean anything.
But to be honest, I never heard of her.
But that's fine.
So she was cancelled, and rightfully.
And rightfully so.
This is another win for common sense in a world that's drowning.
And this radical left-wing lunacy.
So, I think of myself as just a proud patriot who's had enough of the clown show.
And that's all.
It just says, Ms. Ruffin has a right to say her thing, so do I. So let's call this exactly what it is.
Let's make sure we get down to brass tacks.
Amber Ruffin didn't get cancelled.
She cancelled herself.
Okay?
Let me say this again.
She didn't get cancelled.
She cancelled herself.
Happens all the time.
How?
Well, with her smug, unfunny, hateful, and unapologetically radical leftist rants that are somehow disguised as comedy, piquant, or piquant, you know, hard-edged stuff.
Her removal, her ablation from the roster of the 2025 White House Correspondents' Dinner, which I hope, Mr. President, President Trump, please, nobody from your office, from your White House, staff, nobody should even, just do, please, please, you have the right to exercise your, do not, nobody goes there.
Nobody goes there.
And nobody goes on a Gavin Newsom podcast.
Hello?
Hello?
Can you hear me on that?
In any event.
This isn't just a scheduling change, it's a cultural moment.
This is critical stuff here, because we've had it, we're in charge, and this is out.
Because these children, these troubled children just don't get it.
It's the sound of America waking up, ladies and gentlemen, again, and saying, enough, basta, enough to this elite...
Clown show, this circus of divisive, hate-filled, woke, radical left, mean, nasty, dispirited, these awful people who love hate.
These people who love to use the word hate.
Hate is the embodiment.
It's the main ingredient of their entertainment, of their comedy.
This is ridiculous.
They're part of this Biden-era echo chamber, this Biden-era playbook world, this cookie-cutter bumper sticker, Biden woke.
They don't know.
They're like the Japanese soldier or officer who didn't know the war was over.
They don't know where they are.
They don't know.
They've lost.
You lost.
And if you're smart, Amber, what you would have done is not go on some podcast with a bunch of other angry people.
Save it and sandbag it later on.
If you really have to do it, do it.
But don't tell people what you're going to do.
Talk about the history of comedy.
You know you're being watched.
Don't give people a reason to cancel you.
There was a woman on one time who was so bad, I don't even know her name.
She was hideous in comment, hideous in message, and nobody even remembers her.
It was horrible.
There were some horrible moments too.
The rich little moment was, oh my God.
Anyway, even the Don Imus moment.
But this is an anachronism.
It doesn't work anymore.
The gold diggers don't work.
It worked once.
Things just don't.
Chicken a la king.
You don't see that on the menu.
You know why?
Not that it's not good, not that it wasn't popular, and just nobody wants this anymore.
So Ruffin was slated to perform at this year's Correspondence Center a platform traditionally, theoretically used to poke fun across the aisle in this wonderful, kind of in a...
In a Jim Gaffigan kind of way, believe it or not, to dig the way Johnny Carson would do it.
Show a little wit, a little charm.
Showcase yourself.
You will be so famous.
Everybody will hire you.
You won't be hired.
You won't be limited to some woke basement midnight show of ha-has in Sheboygan.
And no, I don't know what the hell that means.
Instead, what we got was a so-called theoretical, putative, Comedian.
We used to say comedian.
Remember that?
Like Pat Carroll was a comedian.
Anyway, she couldn't even pretend to be fair.
When asked to balance her material, to acknowledge that, oh, I don't know, that maybe, maybe, you know, that maybe just, maybe the left isn't, you know, perfect, her response was, there's no way.
There's no way.
I'm going to...
Be freaking doing that dude under no circumstances.
They're all murderers.
And she's talking to people who are laughing.
Murderers?
That's not courage.
It's arrogance.
And it's career suicide.
It's also entitlement.
It doesn't make any sense.
They're not even good business people.
That's exactly why Americans are turning away from these people in droves.
I don't understand it.
You're not going to go far with this.
Do you have any business sense at all?
Do you care?
Or do you just want to go and just...
Do you think that by making Trump jokes, this is going to go on in perpetuity?
Now, let's not kid ourselves.
Amber Ruffin's comedy isn't comedy.
Okay?
I'm going to say this.
It sucks.
It's horrible.
I'd rather suck a hospital mop.
Lick a belt sander.
I'd rather...
I'd rather snort a bar rag.
Then listen to this.
It's bitterness.
It's wrapped in identity politics.
And I'll also tell you something.
If there's some right-winger, if you get, I don't know, some Charlie Kirk CPAC feller who gets up and spews about drag queens and trans, I don't want to hear that either.
Because the thing is, it's the tenor.
It's the hate.
It's not so much the subject matter.
I don't want to hear people that I agree with just doing Biden jokes all night.
I don't want to hear that either.
See?
I'm going across the...
The stuff that's sprinkled with this fake moral superiority in this, as my friend says, this suedo-intelligent nonsense is ridiculous.
And it's served cold with a side of, I'm better than you.
She once called President Trump and his administration a bunch of murderers.
Murderers?
You wouldn't...
Does she know what the Biden...
Does she know who probably killed more people than anybody else is Obama?
Murderers?
Not just wrong, not just misguided, not just...
not just politically askew, but murderers!
That kind of reckless language, it's sloppy, it's lazy.
It doesn't make her brave, it makes her dangerous, it makes her stupid.
She threw everything away.
Words like that fan the flames of hatred.
We don't need this.
It divides the comedy...
Or whatever the...
I was going to say the comedy country, but it's really the country.
It divides it.
And yes, as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich rightly pointed out, rightly has separated, rightly suggested that this could incite real violence.
They never think about this.
We live in a world right now where some weird guy with pink hair and a nose ring is going to scratch on Nazis.
You know, symbol into the side of a Tesla, which is invariably owned by a lefty.
This is nuts.
It's no coincidence that this cancellation came after the White House raised some very serious concerns.
This wasn't censorship.
This wasn't, you can't speak.
This was about accountability.
Finally.
Finally.
Finally somebody's saying enough of this stuff.
And they just don't get it.
Remember, she's gone.
Amber Ruffin.
See?
It's gone.
Like a puffin.
My favorite cereal.
But it just goes.
She'll...
She'll just...
She'll go...
I'm trying to think of this woman, this comedian, who was so horrible.
She had that Debbie Wasserman-schilled kind of hair.
I don't know what this...
I can see her.
I don't know what it is.
But she was just gone.
Nobody remembers her.
Larry Wilmore?
Who?
Who are making a big day?
Dave Chappelle?
Tell me a big time blockbuster boffo.
Boffo guy who comes out and does nothing but Trump jokes.
Can't think of any.
Doesn't exist.
Chappelle does.
He's edgy, goes after trans, not goes after, but includes in the subject matter.
They don't get it.
You don't need me to tell you this.
It's like, mix up your set.
The White House Correspondents Association, for once, for once, got something right.
The Association President, Eugene Daniels, said that this year's event, listen to this, what is that, finally?
Would instead focus on, quote, honoring journalistic excellence.
Which is a bit oxymoronic.
And quote, this is a quote, supporting future journalists.
Translation?
What does that really mean?
It means we've seen what happens when we let angry activists posing as comedians with a punchline take the stage.
We've seen what happens and we're not doing that again.
We know what happens.
We've learned.
Good.
By the way, this correspondence, it used to kind of be interesting, but not anymore.
It shouldn't be a platform for rage.
There were some times it was terrific.
One time they had that George Bush was up with the George Bush impersonator.
I thought that was great.
Then there was Obama was up with the...
Remember he had the Obama...
It was Key or Peel.
I guess...
Anyway, he was the Obama doppelganger.
It was fantastic.
It was really good.
It was clever.
That's the way to do it.
Even Don Imus was interesting.
I mean, he just attacked Bill Clinton, who laughed.
It shouldn't be a platform for rage.
Rage and hate.
You can always say, you know, kidding on the level.
It shouldn't be about disrespect.
It should be about respect.
But, I mean, look, look, look.
Will Rod, I know.
I know, Will Rogers, people are laughing.
They're going to say, what are you talking about?
It's a different era.
What are you talking about?
You're an old guy.
No, I'm not.
Well, maybe I'm old, but my ideas aren't.
It's called class.
It's called humor.
It's called not another woke TED Talk with a laugh track with some angry person.
And I'm sorry to say this, but there are these people who get up there and never have learned.
These comedians who say, whenever I see a black comedian, I say, oh, here we go.
It's going to be about black stuff.
Immediately.
And sure enough, why was Bill Cosby so great?
He never mentioned race once.
He let the humor go.
It was just naturally funny before his own particular problems.
We used to have this whole thing whenever there was a female comic.
Oh, here we go.
Menopause, periods, men.
Okay.
Why are you going to come out and just...
Eliminate half or a significant portion of your audience by basically attacking them.
It doesn't make any sense.
Families are okay.
Husbands and wives.
Remember that crazy?
You might be a redneck if that was one of the biggest things ever.
Whom did it slam?
No one.
The people who went were rednecks and loved it.
Look, you don't need me to provide the axiomatic obvious.
Let's take a step further.
Step back, I should say.
Why is Amber Ruffin famous in the first place?
Who is Amber Ruffin?
I know that.
Because she checked every box the media elite drew over.
Female?
Check.
Person of color?
Check.
Angry at America?
Check.
Obsessed with Trump and hate?
Check.
You got it?
Funny.
Not even close.
Not...
Even close.
Have you ever seen the comedian who goes on that now?
And by the way, Jon Stewart.
There was a time, my friend, when The Daily Show was superb.
You actually watched Jon Stewart really skewer something intellectually.
And before he left to run his New Jersey petting zoo or whatever the hell it was, it was something.
So now if you watch ten minutes of her show, if you can stomach it, but if ever you can watch a compilation, try not to cringe.
Try not to say, ooh.
Her jokes don't land because they aren't jokes.
Listen to what I'm saying.
They're lectures.
And I can't say this enough.
Johnny Carson said this.
She's not punching up or down.
She's just punching at half the country.
She's eliminating half of the...
Think about this.
Half the country, half the demographic, half the audience.
The half that dares to love faith and freedom and yes, Donald J. Trump.
It's that simple.
Let me explain something to you.
Very, very simple.
A real good artist.
And tell me, trust me when I tell you this.
I've been and have been in commercial, you know, terrestrial talk radio when it was the real thing.
Corporate that and TV and a bunch of other stuff too.
And I have a palette.
Okay?
I know that sounds corny.
Different colors.
And I ask the program director, the news director, the sponsors, what colors do you not like?
I don't like this, this.
Okay, fine.
What jokes, what subject matter?
Don't talk about the mayor because the mayor.
Okay, fine.
I've got so much to say, I don't need to talk about that.
I don't need to.
I've got a thousand things to say, and I can only say the time limit 50. Which 50 do you want me to talk about?
And I'll give you the best 50. That's what I am.
I don't have to come on and do jokes about race or gender or whatever.
This gal is part of the same...
Can I say gal?
I don't care.
This gal is part of the same crowd that cheered for censorship, cheered for government shutdowns during COVID, smeared parents at school board meetings, defended biological men dressed in women's clothing.
In women's sports.
And they still think it.
As part of a progressive way of looking at it.
And now she cries foul when they get called out.
These people condition out, of course, but the second America pushes back, the second we say, wait a minute, hold it, they cry cancel culture.
They go nuts.
Like they invented the term.
Look, let's be very clear about something.
Right?
Let's be very, very clear.
Amber Ruffin wasn't cancelled.
She got a reality check.
She cancelled herself.
It's that simple.
And her agent must be saying, what are you doing?
What a beautiful moment it was.
It was.
The fact is, and this is very interesting, the left still doesn't get it.
For a group of people who are supposedly so smart, see, Americans are tired of being mocked for loving their country.
Tired of being ridiculed for voting conservatives.
Tired of being called racist, sexist, transphobic, or fascist for daring to question the narrative.
What they want is simple.
Truth, decency, strength, leadership.
Things we saw under President Donald Trump.
And things we'll see again when he takes...
Continues his efforts.
And when the MAGA and MAHA movement continue.
And meanwhile, Amber Ruffin and her ilk, her comedic kind, her coterie, meanwhile, they're spiraling.
The radical left.
The ideological left, these rancid, hateful lefts, they thought they owned comedy.
They thought they owned the media.
They thought they owned Hollywood.
They thought they owned the narrative.
But now the ratings are dropping.
They are flat on their arse.
The jokes are bombing.
The crowds are waking up.
Not woke, but waking up.
And nobody wants to be lectured by millionaires, or her, who hate the country that gave them everything that allows them to do what they're doing.
This woman, this marginalized black woman, Is enjoying, theoretically, limitless success in this country that would protect her from anyone who told her, you can't speak.
Governmentally.
Not that people use their powers of election.
In contrast, Donald Trump's humor connects.
He's funny.
If you took every crowd that Amber Ruffin ever appeared in, in the entire history of her career, Add them all up.
It would not even come close to one rally that President Trump did.
His smallest rally.
They love him.
He kills, to use these names.
He kills.
He roasts people without rage.
He jokes with a swagger.
With a heart.
He connects with people.
His rallies were electric.
She couldn't do this on her best day.
Because the man knows how to read a room.
And more importantly, they love him.
Half the country loves him.
He knows how to speak to real people.
Amber Ruffin, by the way, I'm saying her, I'll never say her name after today because there'll be no reason to, but she reads cue cards.
She reads a prompter.
She preaches to a crowd.
She reads the words of others.
She...
A group of ex or Instagram activists who couldn't sell out a coffee shop.
Because this is the people who for the longest time through this fraud called USAID are finding themselves in the position now where they are, and this is important, where they're in this world of delusion.
So let's celebrate this moment.
Let's celebrate this moment for what it is.
It's a win for common sense.
It's a win for decency for real Americans.
It's also a win for comedy.
Come forward.
There are millions, thousands of great comics out there who are saying, I can do it.
I can actually go out, be funny, kill, and make tons of money.
That's it.
We've had enough of this performative outrage and this feigned, choreographed nonsense.
Let's pretend we're this virtue signaling garbage.
The White House Correspondents Association made the right call.
Not because of politics, but because of people like Amber Ruffin, who have nothing new to say, and no funny way to say it.
It's that simple.
So, my friends, what do you think?
Do you celebrate this day, as do I?
Let me know.
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