"The White House Correspondents’ Association announced Monday that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow will be the featured speaker at the annual dinner in Washington.
“ 'As we celebrate the importance of a free and independent news media to the health of the republic, I look forward to hearing Ron place this unusual moment in the context of American history,” association president Olivier Knox said in a statement.
"Chernow said he was asked to “make the case for the First Amendment” during his remarks.
“ 'Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics. My major worry these days is that we Americans will forget who we are as a people and historians should serve as our chief custodians in preserving that rich storehouse of memory. While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry,” he said.
"The selection of Chernow marks a change in tradition from selecting a comedian to perform at the black tie event. Wolf drew widespread criticism for her remarks at this year’s dinner about White House press secretary Sarah Sanders’ appearance.
"In response, Margaret Talev, who was then the president of the Correspondents’ Association, said the organization would consider new ideas about the format of the dinner.
“ 'Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press,” Talev said. “Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.”
"Over the last 20 years, comedians were picked for all but two dinners. Musician Ray Charles performed in 2003 and Aretha Franklin headlined the event in 1999."
"Here’s a list of previous entertainers:" . . .
Tim Allen, sadly was not on the list:
Tim Allen: Liberals have little sense of humor about themselves, 'so I love poking at it' . . . "I like pissing people off, and I said there’s nothing, especially in this area, that pisses people off more than a very funny conservative, a smart, funny conservative that takes shots and is certainly self-effacing," Allen said in an interview with IndieWire about his show "Last Man Standing," in which he plays a conservative-leaning character.
"The left-wing point of view is so pervasive that they don’t even realize it’s a point of view. It is just a point of view," he said. "I think this character likes that, he likes to have another point of view. It makes him sharper and more interesting. But we don’t push it."
Allen says in the interview that the character's beliefs aren't exactly his own, but that liberals have a problem with humor targeting them or self-reflecting humor and that it motivates him to prod at the sensitivities of liberals for comedy.
"I think it’s funny to make fun of people that are full of themselves," Allen said. "Liberals have a very small window of sense of humor about themselves, so I love poking at it." . . .
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