Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.
The backlash directed toward comedian Michelle Wolf’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been vicious. Diamondback columnist Asha Kodan called her speech “cringeworthy” and “immature,” and other negative reviews emphasized her vulgarity and crudeness. For a dinner celebrating freedom of speech and of the press, the backlash from groups as high up as the White House Correspondents’ Association make it seem like Wolf’s free speech was not celebrated at all.
[Read more: Michelle Wolf’s Correspondents’ Dinner routine was cringeworthy and immature]
Michelle Wolf made a huge joke out of many in the Trump administration. From my own biased standpoint, I thought it was hilarious. But even if you found it offensive or vulgar, that does not mean she did anything wrong by telling jokes at the expense of the ridiculous things people in attendance have said or done.
The reality is, many of the punchlines of her jokes were based in fact. One of her first lines was, “Like a porn star says when she’s about to have sex with a Trump, ‘Let’s get this over with.'” Though her line was clearly a joke, the allegations against President Trump by porn star Stormy Daniels are well-documented by high-profile news networks.
She also stated, “I did have a lot of jokes about Cabinet members, but I had to scrap all of those because everyone has been fired. You guys are going through Cabinet members quicker than Starbucks throws out black people.” Again, though she added a humorous twist, what makes the joke funny is the connection she drew between two events that actually happened, which speaks more to the ridiculousness of our current social and political climate than the inappropriateness of Wolf’s humor.
One specific topic that seemed to upset people was Wolf’s commentary on Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. While she did draw some pretty harsh conclusions, comparing her to “Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women,” the uproar seems to be mostly in response to Wolf’s comments on Sanders’ makeup. The line went like this: “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.”
Though the reference to her makeup ingredients was a joke, Wolf wasn’t making up facts when describing Sanders’ lies. Some news outlets called this “bullying,” and on Twitter, Sanders’ father, former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, went so far as to imply that it was “hate speech.” In a country that is so negatively affected by racism and xenophobia, it is ignorant, selfish, short-sighted and just plain wrong to compare what Wolf said to the words of the KKK or white nationalist groups. In response to the people who are angry at Wolf for commenting on a woman’s appearance — this is good energy, but it should be focused instead on people who actually objectify women, like our president.
It seems simple enough. If you do not want political issues to be turned into a “laughing matter,” do not invite a comedian. Inviting Wolf, a comedian known to tell offensive and crude jokes, to a dinner with a lot of high-powered politicians, and then getting mad at her for making attendees’ actions into punchlines is like paying money to go to a horror movie and then getting angry that the movie made you feel scared.
[Read more: Is Barack Obama the funniest president?]
Wolf did exactly what most other comedians who are invited to the dinner do, and exactly what was expected of her. She is a comedian whose style is, as fellow comedian Seth Meyers says, often “filthy and mean,” which “are wonderful qualities for comedians, and terrible qualities for free-world leaders.”
It could be argued that she should have had more respect for the powerful people in attendance. However, when performing for members of an administration that has continually proved to be heterosexist, racist and misogynistic, it does not make sense to expect her to treat them with more respect than how they treat most of the American population.
Knowingly inviting someone who is going to make jokes at attendees’ expenses and then getting angry about it not only reveals ignorance and a lack of research, but also the power these people think they hold over the thoughts and words of others. To be frank, despite their expressed apologies and regrets, the White House Correspondents’ Association made this mess themselves.
Michela Dwyer is a sophomore English and philosophy major. She can be reached at mgdwyer3@gmail.com.
