President Joe Biden’s age became a gag line Saturday night at the annual White House correspondents dinner.
Colin Jost, who hosts the “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live,” threw some zingers Biden’s way.
“I hope tonight will be a night to remember … for most of us,” he joked, according to USA Today, making fun of Biden’s widely known memory problems.
After a screen showed Jost when he was a high school reporter, he had another age-related joke.
“You can’t do [that] for President Biden because the technology wasn’t invented when he was in high school. It’s not really fair,” Jost said, according to The Hill.
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Jost even invoked the name of his “SNL” partner — African-American comedian Michael Che — as a comedic prop to mock Biden’s dismal poll numbers among the traditional Democratic voting bloc (as well as mock the television journalists in the audience).
“Like many of you here tonight, I pretend to do news on TV. My ‘Weekend Update’ co-anchor Michael Che was going to join me here tonight but in solidarity with President Biden, I decided to lose all my black support,” he said, eyes shifting to gauge the reaction of the room, as shown in a post on X.
Colin Jost absolutely ROASTS Biden after recent polls showcase his tremendous loss of support within the black community:
“My weekend co-anchor Michael Che was going to join me here tonight but in solidarity with President Biden I decided to lose all my black support.” pic.twitter.com/TxbEDKhhNl
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 28, 2024
The scandal of cocaine found in the White House last summer became a joke.
“I love Washington. Last time I was here I left my cocaine at the White House. Luckily President Biden was able to make good use of it at his State of the Union,” Jost said.
The Hill noted that Jost did not confine his barbs to Biden.
“Senator Bernie Sanders is here because he’s not the type to pass up a free, hot meal,” Jost said.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had his turn as well.
“By the way, President Biden, isn’t it crazy that he’s only our second Catholic president and what’s even crazier is that in just a few short months, we’ll have our third in RFK Jr,” Jost said. “I am kidding, like his vaccine card says, he doesn’t have a shot.”
But if it was all humor on the inside of the event, it was not on the outside, where a mass of protesters gathered to claim that media organizations were doing too little to cover the war in Gaza and ignoring the deaths of journalists in the fighting, according to The Associated Press.
“Shame on you!” protesters shouted to the arriving reporters and their guests.
