--- title: White House Correspondents Dinner: Larry Wilmore Says N Word description: Larry Wilmore uses N word at White House Correspondents Dinner. A glimpse at the reaction to his use of the word on social media. canonical: https://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-01T16:17:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:59.749Z og:title: Larry Wilmore Dropped the N-Word at the White House Correspondents' Dinner og:description: And Twitter went crazy og:url: https://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Larry Wilmore Dropped the N-Word at the White House Correspondents' Dinner twitter:description: And Twitter went crazy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Larry Wilmore Dropped the N-Word at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and Twitter Went Crazy > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=41a22a6a-984f-465d-a9df-6e8284911745&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 1, 2016 4:17 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 1, 2016 4:17 PM UTC Larry Wilmore, host of Comedy Central’s satirical news program _The Nightly Show,_ has gotten mixed reviews for using the N-word at the end of his speech at [the White House Correspondents’ Dinner](http://time.com/4313562/white-house-correspondents-dinner-barack-obama-final/) on Saturday night. “Yo Barry, you did it my n—a,” Wilmore said to President Obama at the close of his remarks. Shortly after the event, the Rev. Al Sharpton [said](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-whcd-sharpton-larry-wilmore-20160430-story.html) that the use of the word in front of Obama was “at best in poor taste,” while _Saturday Night Live_ cast member Sasheer Zamata [tweeted](https://twitter.com/thesheertruth/status/726609561608704000), “This is the blackest correspondents dinner ever and I LOVE it.” Here is a glimpse at the rest of the reaction on Twitter immediately following the event: > [](https://twitter.com/Mr%5FRHolmes3/status/726611141259046912) > [](https://twitter.com/somimusic/status/726608059175436288) > [](https://twitter.com/AFoxisblsd/status/726608467222372352) > [](https://twitter.com/rachelnoerd/status/726748878872170496) > [](https://twitter.com/medsoulbrother/status/726659574153904128) > [](https://twitter.com/MissAngelaDavis/status/726615380349820928) > [](https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/726612955895222272) > [](https://twitter.com/myblackmindd/status/726618897303007232) > [](https://twitter.com/sofiyaballin/status/726608447156932608) In June 2015, Wilmore also made headlines for using the word twice uncensored on his [cable show](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/larry-wilmore-uses-n-word-804783?facebook%5F20150623), while just a couple of days prior, Obama used it in a [candid podcast interview with Marc Maron about race relations](http://time.com/3929917/obama-n-word-marc-maron-podcast-interview/) in America. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/"},"headline":"Larry Wilmore Dropped the N-Word at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and Twitter Went Crazy","datePublished":"2016-05-01T16:17:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:59.749Z","description":"Social media users debated whether it was appropriate to use the word in front of President Barack Obama","url":"https://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","White House","U.S."],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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