William R. Woodall, Waldorf, Md.
I fully support the First Amendment’s rights protecting freedom of speech and the press. I watched the White House Correspondence Dinner aired on CNN, MSNBC and C-Span on Saturday with great interest.
Its members’ intentions of providing scholarships for young journalists and recognizing outstanding journalism should be commended, but I don’t support their judgment for their selection of a “roasting” comedian speaker, and her material.
To me, using the name “White House” as part of an organization should signify respect, dignity, loyalty and morality, for all people. This dinner, if no changes are made for next year, should be rated “MA.”
I don’t consider myself a prude, but if I repeated the language said by this speaker at my mother’s dinner table, I would have gotten a deserved slap across my mouth.
I have noticed that journalist always give comedians a pass when they swear, slander someone, or use forbidden racial and religious names when he or she does a routine. The media at the White House are not particularly on good terms with President Trump, so selecting an almost unknown speaker to disparage and embarrass certain people in the administration is a subtle way to show their displeasure.
I was wrong to assume that someone would have vetted the speaker for content before her routine was aired worldwide to children and adults on television, but that would have been in violation of her freedom of speech. Wouldn’t it?
The president did the right thing by not attending the event.
