President Donald Trump claims he “really loved” being the focus of former President Barack Obama’s mockery at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, contradicting the popular theory that those jokes propelled him toward his successful 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump made the remarks on Thursday, March 26, 2026, during a phone-in appearance on Fox News’ “The Five,” just days before his planned return to the annual dinner—his first time attending as president after boycotting the event throughout his first term and the first year of his second.
“Every joke was about me, and I sort of liked it,” Trump told the Fox News program, describing the evening when then-president Obama and comedian Seth Meyers relentlessly mocked him over everything from his promotion of birther conspiracy theories to his reality show “Celebrity Apprentice.”
The 2011 dinner has become legendary in political circles. Trump adviser Roger Stone told PBS Frontline that night was when Trump resolved to run for president. Author Michael D’Antonio suggested Trump “dreads humiliation” and the roasting created “a burning, personal need” for redemption. Trump dismisses such theories entirely.
That evening, President Obama had just released his long-form birth certificate to counter Trump’s persistent questioning of his citizenship. Armed with ammunition, Obama took the stage and delivered a methodical takedown. He mocked Trump’s promotion of fringe conspiracy theories, joking that now Trump could focus on important issues like whether we faked the moon landing, what really happened in Roswell, and where Biggie and Tupac are.
Obama didn’t stop there. He lampooned Trump’s business acumen by referencing a “Celebrity Apprentice” episode where Trump fired Gary Busey instead of Lil Jon or Meatloaf over a failed steakhouse cooking challenge. The president sarcastically praised Trump’s leadership, calling those “the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night.”
Seth Meyers followed with equally cutting material, telling the crowd, “Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican—which is surprising, since I just assumed he was running as a joke.” The cameras repeatedly cut to Trump sitting stone-faced in the audience, his expression ranging from forced smirks to barely concealed fury.
But Trump now insists he savored every moment. He told “The Five” that in a conversation with his wife, Melania, he shared how much he enjoyed the attention: “I’m having a good time, because every joke was about me.”
The president emphasized that he dominated the conversation that evening while other potential 2016 Republican candidates—including Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, both in attendance—received little mention. Shortly after the 2011 dinner, Trump told ABC News he was “actually very honored by the way I was treated.”
Trump’s return to the dinner represents a dramatic shift. He stopped hosting “Celebrity Apprentice” after the 2011 roasting and boycotted the correspondents’ dinner entirely during his first term, calling it “so boring, and so negative.” He also skipped last year’s 2025 dinner. Now he’s preparing to attend as the sitting president on April 25, 2026.
The timing is striking given the ongoing U.S. military operation in Iran. Trump recently extended a pause on threatened strikes against Iranian energy plants until April 6, providing a brief diplomatic window amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. The war, which began February 28, 2026, has already claimed the life of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and killed more than 1,900 people in Iran.
The White House Correspondents’ Association, founded in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president, hosts the annual dinner as a fundraiser for journalism scholarships and to celebrate the First Amendment. The 2011 event drew 3,000 attendees including celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Sean Penn, and Will.i.am, and awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to journalism students.
Trump’s insistence that he “really loved” the 2011 mockery challenges the narrative that Obama’s jokes wounded his pride and spurred his political ambitions. Instead, Trump frames the evening as proof of his ability to command attention and dominate the conversation—even when he was the punchline.
When Trump takes his seat at the head table this April, he’ll occupy a vastly different position than the real estate mogul testing political waters in 2011. Whether the dinner produces similar fireworks is anyone’s guess—though his relationship with the press corps has never been more combative.
Sources:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-addresses-barack-obama-white-house-correspondents-dinner-jokes_n_69c68a51e4b0a6ee60c45f9f
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-honored-butt-obama-seth-meyers-jokes/story?id=13503379
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-attend-first-white-house-correspondents-dinner-president-rcna261427