The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), the organization that represents the White House press corps and hosts the annual event, hails the dinner as "a celebration of freedom of the press and the First Amendment." So it came as a surprise to many when WHCA President Margaret Talev condemned Wolf's remarks. 

"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 scholarship winners, not to divide people," Talev wrote in the three-paragraph statement. "Unfortunately, the entertainer's monologue was not in the spirit of that mission."

Brutal responses were not far behind. 

"This horrendous statement should be a good call for a recommitment to not playing footsie with this administration — instead valuing reporters who do deep dives on its members and their effect on us, then asking fearless questions, relationships be damned," NBC News' Ben Collins fired back. 

"Every year, I see @whca attendees tweeting about how the dinner is about celebrating the First Amendment. That is sanctimonious enough," Jamil Smith, Senior Writer at Rolling Stone, tweeted. "But this statement reveals anew what nonsense that is. This is performative rubbish, and I hope that next year's comedian ridicules them for it."

"This statement is as cringeworthy as any joke ever told at a #WHCD," MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff said. "The First Amendment is cool to celebrate and embrace, except when it's not, I guess. No wonder Americans don't trust the media."

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