Jon Stewart: Don’t Boycott Trump’s White House Correspondents’s Dinner

Jon Stewart’s comedy often cuts through Washington, D.C.’s bonhomie and niceties, but he’s defending one inside-the-Beltway ritual, the White House correspondents’ dinner.
Some have demanded that reporters boycott over President Donald Trump’s treatment of the press, but Stewart says he disagrees.
“I think it’ll be entertaining,” the ex-Comedy Central host told TMZ on Monday. “The scholarships that they provide at that dinner, what they’re raising money for, is still a good cause,” he added, referring to the scholarships for journalism students for which the event raises money.
The new president’s constant attacks on the media, which he often characterizes as “the very dishonest press, and chief strategist Steve Bannon’s recent statement that reporters are “the opposition party,” have prompted some to back away from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Vanity Fair and The New Yorker canceled related celebrations this year, and Samantha Bee, who used to work on Stewart’s “Daily Show,” has announced plans to hold a rival event to support the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
- 4
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish World How Yiddish found a home in Sweden (online lecture in Yiddish)
-
Fast Forward Hamas releases Edan Alexander, last living American hostage, to Red Cross
-
Yiddish עמיל קאַלינס ראָמאַן אַנטפּלעקט שפּאַלטן אין דער ישׂראלדיקער קאָלעקטיװער נשמהEmil Kalin’s Yiddish novel exposes divisions in the Israeli collective psyche
דער העלד פֿון „צוזאַמענבראָך“ פֿאַרלאָזט זײַן פֿרוי און קינד און לאָזט זיך גיין אויף אַ קאָמפּליצירטן גײַסטיקן דרך.
-
Fast Forward In Tenafly, NJ, a crowd awaits the release of local son Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.