President Joe Biden claps as comic Roy Wood Jr., a correspondent for The Daily Show, speaks throughout the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

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President Joe Biden claps as comic Roy Wood Jr., a correspondent for The Daily Show, speaks throughout the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

President Joe Biden balanced jokes with a reverence for a free press throughout his speech on the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, roasting media figures, politicians and himself.

Biden, 80, nodded to current media protection about his age as he seeks another four-year term.

“Look, I get that age is a completely reasonable issue,” he stated, earlier than sharing his perspective: “You might think I don’t like Rupert Murdoch. That’s simply not true. How can I dislike a guy who makes me look like Harry Styles?”

“Call me old, I call it being seasoned. You say I am ancient, I say I’m wise” Biden stated. He then joked: “You say I’m over the hill, Don Lemon would say, ‘That’s a man in his prime,'” dragging the previous CNN anchor days after Lemon was fired following his sexist and ageist feedback made in opposition to Nikki Haley.

Right-wing channel Fox News — who lately settled a $787.5-million defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, after which this week ousted host Tucker Carlson — took a number of jabs from the president and this year’s headliner comedian, Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr.

“I’d call Fox ‘Honest, fair and truthful.’ But then I’d be sued for defamation,” Biden cracked to a packed ballroom in Washington, D.C.

Biden additionally struck severe notes, emphasising the significance of a free press. He stated of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal journalist detained in Russia on espionage fees, that he was “working every day to secure his release.”

He additionally returned to a theme from final yr’s speech, saying that America’s “democracy remains at risk” from misinformation and “poison” in some sections of the press. “Lies told for profit and power. Lies and conspiracy and malice repeated over and over again, designed to generate a cycle of anger, hate and even violence,” Biden stated, pointing to ebook bans, anti-transgender legal guidelines, abortion bans and the recent expulsions of state representatives over protests.

Speaking after the president, Wood, the most recent Daily Show star to simply accept the WHCD headlining gig, poked enjoyable at Biden, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. George Santos and former president Donald Trump. The comic famous that the one factor unifying media and authorities was “scandal.”

“Real fast, Mr. President, I feel you left a few of your classified documents up right here,” he opened.

Comedian Roy Wood Jr., takes his flip on the dais because the headliner on the Washington, D.C., occasion.

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Carolyn Kaster/AP

Comedian Roy Wood Jr., takes his flip on the dais because the headliner on the Washington, D.C., occasion.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Wood joked that no scandal has been extra damaging than the scandal of: “Is Joe Biden awake?”

“Say what you want about our president, but when you wake up from that nap, work gets done,” Wood stated. He “might doze off, but then it’s, ‘Infrastructure bill, student loan forgiveness … did we free Brittney Griner? Free Brittney Griner!'”

Wood, who majored in broadcast journalism at Florida A&M University earlier than getting into comedy, turned honest in his protection of media. But, he stated, a lot of the general public cannot afford a number of the media’s “most essential, fair and nuanced reporting” — a number of which is paywalled.

Wood earned boos from some within the viewers when he introduced up anti-drag laws and gun violence.

“Drag queens are not at a school to groom your kids. Stop it,” he stated. “And even if they were, most of them kids are going to get shot at school.”

“Don’t groan, pass legislation,” Wood informed the lawmakers in attendance.

As star journalists mingled with comedians and different movie star at this yr’s occasion, local weather activists used the event to stage a protest outdoors of the Washington Hilton Hotel, the place the dinner was held. Protesters had been demanding President Biden maintain his promise to end new fossil fuel drilling on federal lands. The protest was organized by Climate Defiance, a bunch that calls itself “a brand-new movement of young people.”

The WHCA’s friends had been compelled to stroll previous a line of protestors to enter the occasion, noted Mia McCarthy, a reporting fellow for Politico who was on the scene, as activists chanted that the media was complacent and never urgent Biden sufficient on the problem.

NPR additionally performed an element in Biden’s speech. The president took a jab at Elon Musk’s rocky Twitter acquisition, after which joked about Musk’s criticism of some media organisations.

“Elon Musk tweeted that [NPR] should be defunded,” Biden stated. “Well, the best way to make NPR go away is for Elon Musk to buy it.”