Wanda Sykes Skewers Obama, Limbaugh At White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Posted May 11, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a night to celebrate journalists and the work they do covering Washington.
It was a night where even President Barack Obama cracked jokes, mocking his relationship with Hillary Clinton and the recent H1N1 virus.
It was a night where freedom of speech was celebrated above all else.
Be careful what you wish for.
When Wanda Sykes took to the podium at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, no one was safe.
The comedian took jabs at the President’s gift of choice for the Queen of England – “What’s she going to do with an iPod? Download Lady Gaga?” – and his racial background.
Once Obama makes a mistake, she joked, we’ll all be wondering who elected that “half-white” guy.
As for his propensity for appearing shirtless in the tabloids, “there was never a nipple portrait of Lincoln, I’m sorry.”
She also poked fun at the previous administration
“President Bush knows how to leave town…he’s like a houseguest who breaks something in your house and is outta there before you find out. Who broke my vase?”
But her jokes about controversial radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh were met with more jeers than cheers.
After Sykes repeated Limbaugh’s wish that “this administration would fail,” she cracked, “I hope his kidneys fail!”
She also went on to reference his addiction to OxyContin, a prescription painkiller, and made a joke about Sarah Palin “pulling out” of the dinner at the last minute.
While the audience booed, Sykes had the last laugh.
“Aw, shut up. Y’all will be telling that one tomorrow.”
Sykes at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC. Photo by Martin H. Simon-Pool/Getty Images.
