Journalist April Ryan pushed back at former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday for saying she was “interested in personal fame” when asking pointed questions during press briefings.
Ryan, a correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, joked that Spicer couldn’t run her over with his podium — a reference to the famous “Saturday Night Live” skit depicting Spicer with a podium on wheels — because he was fired.
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“Umm he can’t he got fired remember by @Scaramucci and they never called him back,” Ryan said, referring to Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House communications director for less than two weeks last year.
She also shared tweets accusing him of having “selective memory” and affirming a Twitter follower who claimed the former White House official was on a “frantic search for relevance.”
Ryan continued to push back on Monday in an interview with Sirius XM, saying that Spicer “wants to remain relevant.”
“You have to understand why Sean is saying this. Sean wants to be relevant. He wants to be relevant. OK? Sean Spicer, when he left the White House, could not get a job,” Ryan said on Sirius XM’s “Joe Madison Show.”
“That’s one the reasons why he was on the Emmy’s, or whatever show that was with Colbert, pushing the podium. Because his agent was getting him gigs. No one wants him. He gets a job with Fox. Only thing he can do is rail me and go to the Kentucky Derby and that’s fine. Sean is out of a job, he’s got a book coming out. That’s fine, but I’ve got one coming out in September,” she continued.
Her comments came after Spicer took to “Fox & Friends” earlier Saturday and weighed in on one of Ryan’s controversial exchanges this week with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Ryan had asked Sanders if President Trump planned on resigning and later suggested the spokeswoman threatened a “physical fight” with the reporter when responding to her questions about a past misstatement over Trump’s alleged affair with an adult-film actress.
“Why can’t she just ask a straightforward question and ask for a straightforward answer?” Spicer said during his Fox News appearance, pointing to Ryan’s questioning at briefings.
The former White House press secretary noted that Ryan and other reporters “have gotten newfound notoriety” due to briefings garnering increased attention in recent months.
“Suddenly, after April engaged in a bunch of back-and-forth, she gets a CNN contract, as have many other reporters who have created sort of YouTube-viral moments, not because of the content of their reporting but because they became some kind of sensation from a back-and-forth,” Spicer said.
“What that tells me is they’re more interested in personal fame,” he said.
Comedian Kathy Griffin, who once posed for a picture holding a mask meant to look like Trump’s severed head, also had some choice words for Spicer over his remarks.
“Shut the f— up @seanspicer. She’s famous after decades of hard work and because of the terrible way you and Sarah have treated her,” Griffin tweeted.
Updated May 7 at 2:36 p.m.