The best moments from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

() — The President of the United States, Joe Biden, joked this Saturday on various topics at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but took a serious tone in calling for the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad.

The annual dinner, held at the Washington Hilton, drew many guests in support of press freedom, something Biden called “the pillar of a free society, not the enemy.”

Here are the best moments from this year’s dinner.

Biden calls for the release of wrongfully detained Americans

Biden took the opportunity to address a crowd gathered in support of press freedom to send a clear message: “Journalism is not a crime.”

He began his remarks with a serious tone, immediately addressing the unjust detentions of American journalists Evan Gershkovich in Russia and Austin Tice in Syria, assuring the room full of journalists and the families of those detained that his administration is committed to bringing them to home.

“I promise I’m working to get you home,” Biden said.

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was released from Russia late last year after being wrongfully detained, was in attendance this Saturday afternoon. Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with Griner and his wife on the spot, the White House reported.

The president and first lady also met privately with the family of Gershkovich, the journalist for the Wall Street Journal whom the US State Department considers “wrongly detained” in Russia. Several of the journalists present wore pins calling for his release.

The daughter of imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalnaya, Dasha Navalnaya, told early Saturday that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner represents an especially important event for those who are wrongfully detained because “America as a country stands for freedom of expression, freedom of political expression”.

Roy Wood Jr. targets Washington

Comedian Roy Wood Jr., known for his role on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” didn’t hold back in his criticism of Washington politics on Saturday night, reserving his darts for both parties.

He immediately referred to the secret documents found at Biden’s Delaware home, telling the president as he stepped away from the podium: “Quick, Mr. President. I think you left some of your classified documents here.”

Wood also referred to protests in France in response to the government raising the retirement age. “Meanwhile, in the United States, we have an 80-year-old man begging us for four more years of work,” he joked, alluding to Biden’s re-election bid.

The comedian then went on to dub former President Donald Trump the “king of scandals.”

“Keeping up with the Trump scandals is like watching the Star Wars movies,” he said. “You have to see the third to understand the first, so you have – you can’t miss the second because it has Easter eggs for the fifth.”

Biden mocks Trump

Biden’s jokes, for his part, included a series of quips directed at his predecessor’s recent scandals.

He joked that he was offered $10 to keep his statements under 10 minutes. “That’s a change, a president being offered hush money,” he joked, referring to Trump’s indictment in an alleged hush money scheme.

Biden also mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is likely to be the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination if he enters the 2024 race.

“I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes lined up, but Mickey Mouse beat me to it, he got there first,” Biden said.

Disney filed a lawsuit against the governor and his board of oversight earlier this week, accusing him of punishing the company with his political influence for exercising its free speech rights.

Journalists were feted and mocked

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner honored several journalists for their impactful work last year, including ‘s Phil Mattingly for his coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington and Politico’s publication of the draft Supreme Court opinion that would later overturn Roe v. Wade.

Although Biden also applauded the reporters for their work, he derided their harsh questions.

“I understand that age is a totally reasonable issue, it’s on everyone’s mind,” he said, referring to his re-election bid. “By everyone, I mean the New York Times.”

Biden also joked about how he dodges questions from the media. “In many ways, this dinner sums up my first two years in office: I’ll talk 10 minutes, answer zero questions, and walk away cheerfully.”

In recent weeks, the media industry has taken a number of blows, from top job layoffs to layoffs, something Wood tackled bluntly.

“The untouchable Tucker Carlson is out of a job,” Wood said, referring to the departure of the Fox News host, which drew applause.

“Okay, some celebrate it,” he replied. “But to Tucker’s staff, I want you to know that I know what you’re feeling. I work at the Daily Show, so I too was caught off guard by the sudden departure of a fake news show host.”

The famous let themselves be seen

The event this Saturday was attended by numerous celebrities, including model and television presenter Chrissy Teigen and her husband, singer John Legend.

Actress Julia Fox posed with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, while actress Rosario Dawson and actors Liev Schreiber and Billy Eichner took turns on the red carpet.

During the event, twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, hosts of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” got a good laugh at their sketch-style video showing how they would renovate the White House.

“We’ve been at this for a long time and we think we know how to turn the White House into the White Home,” the couple said in the video.

‘s Maegan Vázquez and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.