After President Donald Trump sent out a tweet on Saturday revealing he would not be attending the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which has been attended by Presidents since it began almost a hundred years ago, and social media users have used it as a platform to insult him, calling him orange chicken and a “scared little b*tch.”
The dinner, which has earned the nickname “Nerd Prom” by attracting media and political figures to raise money for journalism scholarships, has been made more interesting and exciting in recent years by attracting comedy, such as Keegan-Michael Key’s appearance as his anger translator character Luther alongside President Barack Obama.
It usually features Celebrities roasting the President, which isn’t something that’s Trump’s cup of tea. He’s the archetypal guy who can dish it out but can’t take it. He’s like the ultimate version of that. Obama made fun of him at the 2011 event and failed to raise even a smile.
Social media users mocking Trump
Users of social media are deriding Trump for cancelling his appearance at the event, seeing it as a sign that he can’t take a joke and is afraid of being ribbed. One Twitter user tweeted that Trump is “up in his room...cry(ing) over the celebrities that don’t want to play with him,” while another said that despite the President skipping the dinner, “the main course will be in his honor,” citing “orange chicken,” a reference to his fake-tanned skin and the fact he’s scared of what the attendees of the event will say to him and won’t be able to take it.
Comedian Kristina Wong, an outspoken Trump hater, said to Trump, “Sometimes I see girls from high school and get nervous too,” and asked him, “Can’t take a joke?” before clarifying that by “joke,” she means “indictment of (his) incompetency.” Gay Twitter star Cole Ledford, who became famous as the victim of a hate crime said that “by not attending an evening dedicated to the media, you are saying that you are scared.”
Evan Dashevsky from PCMag said that Trump “should do something super nuts” on the night of the event, “like release your taxes or something.” Bess Kalb, one of Jimmy Kimmel’s writers, tweeted to Trump, “I’m sorry you’re so very scared of the press.” She added that occasionally “the truth hurts” and that everybody must “be mature and face it.” NYC comic Nick Jack Pappas added that if Trump is looking to stay away from anywhere that he will be made fun of, “he’ll never be able to go anywhere again.” Meanwhile, Zach Braff and Diane Warren are calling to Alec Baldwin to appear at the dinner in his “SNL” role as Trump.