WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump mocked journalist Kaitlan Collins and social media personality Dylan Mulvaney during his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech. The remarks prompted public responses from both women.

He spoke for one hour and four minutes at the dinner, which took place in a hotel he previously owned. Collins received the White House Correspondents' Association Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure during the event. She earned the honor for her reporting on the February 2025 Oval Office confrontation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He said he wanted to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. He stated that the award was fake and that she should not get it. He told Collins to smile and said she never smiles. He connected her to Mulvaney through a commercial controversy. He said he thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.

The President referenced the financial impact of a 2023 promotion in which Bud Light sent a beer can with Mulvaney's face printed on it to the creator for an Instagram promotion. He said Dylan Mulvaney cost Bud Light $35 billion in market cap. He added that that was the worst commercial ever made, for those few people who want to hear that. He further commented on Mulvaney, saying most people don’t care, but he would. He said he wouldn’t want to hire Dylan any time soon. Reporters in the audience remained seated and silent during the remarks.

He wore a Trump 2028 hat at the end of his speech. Over the weekend, he posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social that placed Collins’ face onto Mulvaney’s body on a mock Bud Light can. Collins responded on Instagram by posting a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt stating that nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. She also thanked Wolf Blitzer on the platform for presenting the award.

Dylan Mulvaney posted a video response to Trump on TikTok on Sunday evening. She said her name is Dylan Mulvaney and the president said her name four times in his speech on Friday night. She expressed honor at the comparison to Collins. She said she was incredibly honored to be compared to her in any way and hoped that she continues doing all the great work.

Collins appeared on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart on Monday to discuss the event. She said that in the room, she was not surprised when he insulted her. That happens pretty regularly inside the Oval Office. This was just a bigger venue where it was happening.

She noted the reaction of the attendees. She said what was most surprising to her was that the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his cabinet, his allies, Republicans in Congress — and it was so quiet in the room during the president’s remarks.

She stated that she wished to keep the focus on her journalism rather than a personal dispute. She said that in terms of her reaction, it’s really not about her. And she didn’t want it to be about her reaction. If you let it become about that, then it becomes a back-and-forth between the two of them.

She explained her strategy for handling such moments. She said that instead, she thinks it’s more effective to remind people in those moments, when he is insulting her or when he is criticizing her, about the question she asked or the reporting that she did that he was so angry about. And the fact that she got an award for it really bothered him, clearly. The hosts of "Morning Joe" called the decision to host Donald Trump at the dinner tone-deaf. A post-event panel on "State of the Union" unanimously agreed the president had bombed with his speech.