Trump Touts Friendly Relationship With the Ellisons Hours After Paramount Delays Warner Bros. Merger

Donald Trump took a moment during his White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech Friday to tout his friendly relationship with Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison.

The president notably shouted out the media mogul during his hour-long address, where he quipped that Ellison had promised to rename the annual WHCA dinner to include his name.

“Tonight’s event is even crazier than the last time,” Trump told the crowd at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C. “In fact, it’s so successful that I’ve been informed by CBS News’ David Ellison — he’s the owner. He bought it, spent a lot of money, and he’s going to make, I think, fantastic changes and keep some of the great stuff going. But then next year, they’re going to call it the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He told me that, and I like that very much. We’re going to change the name of it, okay? Oh, it’s going to be so hot, just like our country is hot.”

It’s clear Trump was trying to poke fun at the drama tied to his Kennedy Center rebrand, but the mention of Ellison was particularly noticeable given news out of Hollywood hours earlier. Namely, Ellison’s company, Paramount Skydance, agreed to push its pending $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery as far back as June 2027 – as its litigation with a group of 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America moves to a trial.

Additionally, Trump’s joke came on the heels of Ellison, as well as father and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, being sued by shareholders over an alleged undisclosed deal with the president to overhaul CNN, in what plaintiffs argue is an effort to win approval for the merger.

Elsewhere in his speech, Trump playfully poked fun at Bari Weiss, the Ellison-appointed and embattled editor-in-chief of CBS News, ultimately praising her as “a wonderful woman.”

“For example, under my administration, a once feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled,” Trump quipped. “Their former leaders have been removed, and they’re now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions. But I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She’s a wonderful woman.”

Trump had less kind words for Weiss’ peers in the news industry, laying into Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper and Kaitlin Collins at different points in the evening.