(RNN) – Ears are still burning and passions inflamed after the White House Correspondents’ dinner over the weekend.
Comedian Michelle Wolf’s roast on nearly everything Washington, DC, and her particular focus on White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has folks fuming on both sides of the aisle, but some applauding as well.
In the aftermath, the question seems to be: Did Wolf go too far?
Her performance was so raw that C-SPAN radio stopped broadcasting it more than halfway through. The network said it was afraid of running afoul of the “FCC's indecency guidelines."
White House Correspondents’ Association President and Bloomberg journalist Margaret Talev expressed some initial concern the morning after the dinner.
"My only regret is that to some extent, those 15 minutes are now defining four hours of what was a really wonderful, unifying night,” she said on CNN. “And I don't want the cause of unity to be undercut."
But as the backlash grew, Talev’s regret grew into a full-fledged apology.
"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," her statement on Twitter said. "Unfortunately, the entertainer's monologue was not in the spirit of that mission."
#WHCA Statement to Members on Annual Dinner pic.twitter.com/8DKoHNxpNi
— WHCA (@whca) April 30, 2018
Wolf’s monologue skewered just about everyone, but the barbs thrown at Sanders, who was sitting just two seats away, were particularly painful.
"I actually really like Sarah, I think she's very resourceful," Wolf said. "She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye."
MSNBC co-host of "Morning Joe," Mika Brzezinski, said the personal attacks were unnecessary.
Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable. I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) April 29, 2018
New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman also defended Sanders.
That @PressSec sat and absorbed intense criticism of her physical appearance, her job performance, and so forth, instead of walking out, on national television, was impressive.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 29, 2018
While Sanders’ boss didn’t directly come to her defense, he did pan the dinner after skipping for the second year in a row.
While Washington, Michigan, was a big success, Washington, D.C., just didn’t work. Everyone is talking about the fact that the White House Correspondents Dinner was a very big, boring bust...the so-called comedian really “bombed.” @greggutfeld should host next year! @PeteHegseth
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2018
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a failure last year, but this year was an embarrassment to everyone associated with it. The filthy “comedian” totally bombed (couldn’t even deliver her lines-much like the Seth Meyers weak performance). Put Dinner to rest, or start over!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018
But Wolf wasn't without her supporters. Among them was Howard Fineman, an analyst at NBC News and MSNBC. He said the comedian’s insults remind him of what he hears regularly from a certain resident of the White House.
RE #MichelleWolf: 1. Yep: blunt, crude, pitiless. Remind you of, say, a president? 2. She torched EVERYONE, even #Dems, #Stormy, #media. 3. She wasn’t playing to all America or the room, but to her #Netflix deal. 4. She was INVITED. 5. It’s not her job to behave. 6. She’s funny. pic.twitter.com/7NMeKEBLLF
— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) April 29, 2018
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