Commerce Sec. Jokes About News of Syria Strike ‘In Lieu of After-Dinner Entertainment’ at Mar-a-Lago

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is getting flak online for a report that says he made a joke about the news of the Syria strikes coming “in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.”

According to Variety, Ross recalled when he found out about the decision to strike Syria at Mar-a-Lago, when President Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping about the strike.

Ross added, “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.”

The crowd laughed, Variety reports, and Ross then said, “The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment.”

Katie Couric was in attendance and tweeted about the remark as well.

As one of the attendees noted, Ross cracked a bunch of jokes during the event, but this one earned some less-than-positive reactions on Twitter:

Yeesh https://t.co/0G1torNGjk

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) May 1, 2017

Perhaps instead of a standup comic or lounge singer? https://t.co/ml9CJLlYOl

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 1, 2017

This is a most unfortunate quote and headline for Wilbur Ross https://t.co/QtkhPjZqTu

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) May 1, 2017

Oh, Wilbur Ross. No. https://t.co/5F7EFJ6D7q

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 1, 2017

[image via screengrab]

— —

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!