--- title: WHCA: Michelle Wolf’s Routine 'Not in Spirit' of Our Mission description: Margaret Talev , the President of the White House Correspondents' Association, has released a statement about Michelle Wolf's routine. canonical: https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-30T12:53:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:35:48.259Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Wolf’s Routine Was 'Not in the Spirit' of Our Mission, Says WHCA President og:description: 'Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message...not to divide people' og:url: https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte14c077d5d288e92/69892f148fd2ee9ca735b787/gettyimages-952801952.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2999 og:image:height: 1687 og:image:alt: 2018 White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Wolf’s Routine Was 'Not in the Spirit' of Our Mission, Says WHCA President twitter:description: 'Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message...not to divide people' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte14c077d5d288e92/69892f148fd2ee9ca735b787/gettyimages-952801952.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Wolf’s Routine Was 'Not in the Spirit' of Our Mission, Says WHCA President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Apr 30, 2018 12:53 PM UTC  Comedian Michelle Wolf entertains guests at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner at The Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Comedian Michelle Wolf entertains guests at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner at The Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Cheriss May/NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Apr 30, 2018 12:53 PM UTC Comedian Michelle Wolf’s [controversial routine](http://time.com/5259016/comedians-defend-michelle-wolf/) at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner was “not in the spirit” of the group’s mission, the organization’s president said Sunday. “Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and sponsorship winners, not to divide people,” wrote Margaret Talev in a statement. “Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.” > [](https://twitter.com/whca/status/990773612226412545) Michelle Wolf, a former contributor and writer for _The Daily Show with Trevor Noah_, made headlines following her performance at the annual dinner held April 28 in Washington, D.C. During her routine, Wolf made several pointed comments aimed at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, including a comparison to Aunt Lydia, the terrifying indoctrinator in Margaret Atwood’s _The Handmaid’s Tale_, now a popular show on streaming service Hulu. Wolf’s controversial remarks received a wide array of criticism and praise on social media. Several fellow comedians, including Judd Apatow, Anthony Bourdain and Kathy Griffin, praised Wolf’s bravery, while other notable public figures, including former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, were less than complimentary. Before releasing her statement, Talev told Politico that Wolf’s jokes did not reflect the views of the press corps. “The association by tradition does not preview or censor the entertainer’s remarks,” she said. “Some of them made me uncomfortable and did not embody the spirit of the night.” For the second year in a row, President Donald Trump did not attend the event. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/"},"headline":"Michelle Wolf’s Routine Was 'Not in the Spirit' of Our Mission, Says WHCA President","datePublished":"2018-04-30T12:53:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:35:48.259Z","description":"'Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message...not to divide people'","url":"https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte14c077d5d288e92/69892f148fd2ee9ca735b787/gettyimages-952801952.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte14c077d5d288e92/69892f148fd2ee9ca735b787/gettyimages-952801952.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner","caption":"2018 White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner","creditText":"Cheriss May/NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5259517/michelle-wolf-whca-dinner/","name":"Michelle Wolf’s Routine Was 'Not in the Spirit' of Our Mission, Says WHCA President"}}]}] ```