Acosta: Reporters Should Prepare To 'Walk The F*** Out' Of WHCD

Alex Christy
April 25th, 2026 11:52 AM

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One of the most enlightening things about the former Elite Media, allegedly straight news anchors starting their own podcasts and Substacks, is being able to see what they truly think, and nobody has been exposed quite like former CNN host Jim Acosta and former CBS and NBC anchor Katie Couric. On the former’s Friday show, the pair teamed up to urge reporters to be prepared to “walk the fuck out” of Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner in protest of President Trump.

Couric claimed, “I feel like journalists who are, should be getting hazardous duty pay for putting up with so much bullshit," and that the WHCD provides them an opportunity to “celebrate themselves” because “they are still doing a fantastic job. In many cases under very difficult circumstances, but it's so incongruous to me.”

 

 

The alleged incongruity comes from the fact that “you have President Donald Trump there, are they—he apparently hired a comedy writer to help him with his remarks, according to Laura Trump, so I just read. It's just— the whole thing feels so, I would say both icky and surreal.”

Acosta concurred before asking, “I totally agree with you on all of that. And I mean, there's this report out today in The Daily Beast that Trump intends to launch a quote 'revenge attack’ on the press at the Correspondence Dinner. So I mean, a couple of questions on that would be one: What do the journalists in the room do if he starts doing that, starts trashing the press? I have some thoughts on that. I'd love to hear yours.”

Couric replied with a lot of words but did not answer the question until a subscriber comment popped up on screen that said, “Reporters need to get up and walk out.” Couric replied, “I agree with that subscriber.”

Acosta then added with agreement, but with more colorful language, “I will tell you exactly what I think, and on Fridays I occasionally do these segments called 'Fuck It Friday' where, you know, we're on Substack or YouTube, so I just let it rip sometimes. I think if Trump starts doing that, the reporters in the room should walk the fuck out. They should get up—”

 

 

After Couric lamented that probably won’t happen, Acosta continued, “I know, but I—that’s what I—that’s my personal point on this. I think that, you know, my sense of it is right now is that the media is sort of the—one of the last, one of the last institutions in this country that has come to the realization that you have to stand up to the bully, and you just have, I mean, I know that people will say, ‘Well, is that being a reporter? Is that 'do your job'?"

He also claimed:

I think you have to stand up for something and stand up for our profession and stand up for the First Amendment. And my understanding is he's going to come in there and trash everybody and then walk out and not even stay for the awards or any of that stuff, you know, or any of the toasting of the First Amendment and so on. And I just think that that's— it's such a travesty. And so maybe folks will just sit there.

As you know, Katie, at these events, they often have the cameras pointed at the audience and the cutaways and so on. I think the folks in the room better be very careful as to how they're responding to this because it's already a bad look and the folks are sitting there laughing at Trump trashing this anchor or this correspondent or this news organization, it's just going to look terrible. And I think he's done this intentionally to put the media in a position where they can sort of be a part of his media strategy, which is to attack the press.

Couric piled on, “And Jim, to yuck it up, like, as he insults them is also a bad look, and also, as JVL [The Bullwark’s Jonathan V. Last] said yesterday, you know, it's being complicit. And you know, media attention and coverage, even negative, I think, is his oxygen.”

In the Trump era, there has been a concerted effort to say that comedy and comedians, like journalists, help speak truth to power, but when powerful journalists are on the receiving end, all of a sudden it is considered “icky.”

Here is a transcript for the April 24 show:

The Jim Acosta Show

4/24/2026

KATIE COURIC: And so, you know, on the one hand, I feel like journalists who are, should be getting hazardous duty pay for putting up with so much bullshit—

JIM ACOSTA: Yeah.

COURIC: —you know, deserve to celebrate themselves. That they are still doing a fantastic job. In many cases under very difficult circumstances, but it's so incongruous to me.

ACOSTA: I agree.

COURIC: That you have President Donald Trump there, are they—he apparently hired a comedy writer to help him with his remarks, according to Laura Trump, so I just read.

ACOSTA Yes.

COURIC: It's just— the whole thing feels so, I would say both icky and surreal.

ACOSTA: I totally agree with you on all of that. And I mean, there's this report out today in The Daily Beast that Trump intends to launch a quote “revenge attack” on the press at the Correspondence Dinner. So I mean, a couple of questions on that would be one: What do the journalists in the room do if he starts doing that, starts trashing the press? I have some thoughts on that. I'd love to hear yours.

…

COURIC: I agree with that subscriber.

ACOSTA: I will tell you exactly what I think, and on Fridays I occasionally do these segments called "Fuck It Friday" where, you know, we're on Substack or YouTube, so I just let it rip sometimes. I think if Trump starts doing that, the reporters in the room should walk the fuck out. They should get up—

COURIC: Will they tough? They won’t

ACOSTA: I know, but I—that’s what I—that’s my personal point on this. I think that, you know, my sense of it is right now is that the media is sort of the—one of the last, one of the last institutions in this country that has come to the realization that you have to stand up to the bully, and you just have, I mean, I know that people will say, "Well, is that being a reporter? Is that 'do your job'?"

You know, I think you have to stand up for something and stand up for our profession and stand up for the First Amendment. And my understanding is he's going to come in there and trash everybody and then walk out and not even stay for the awards or any of that stuff, you know, or any of the toasting of the First Amendment and so on.

And I just think that that's— it's such a travesty. And so maybe folks will just sit there. As you know, Katie, at these events, they often have the cameras pointed at the audience and the cutaways and so on. I think the folks in the room better be very careful as to how they're responding to this because it's already a bad look—

COURIC: It is.

ACOSTA: — and the folks are sitting there laughing at Trump trashing this anchor or this correspondent or this news organization, it's just going to look terrible. And I think he's done this intentionally to put the media in a position where they can sort of be a part of his media strategy, which is to attack the press.

COURIC: Yeah. And Jim, to yuck it up, like, as he insults them is also a bad look— 

ACOSTA: Yeah.

COURIC: —and also as JVL said yesterday, you know, it's being complicit. And you know, media attention and coverage, even negative, I think, is his oxygen. 

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