Ariana Madix Appears to React to Joke About Tom Sandoval at White House Correspondents' Dinner

While hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Roy Wood Jr. joked about the Vanderpump Rules cheating scandal involving Tom Sandoval—with Ariana Madix sitting in the audience.

By Corinne Heller Apr 30, 2023 9:20 PMTags
Watch: Ariana Madix & Tom Sandoval: EVERYTHING That Happened After the Split

Scandoval has made it to the White House.

While performing his comedy set at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, host Roy Wood Jr. referenced Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval and the cheating scandal involving him that erupted followed news of his breakup from Ariana Madix—who sat in the audience at the April 29 event.

The comedian, a Daily Show correspondent, prefaced his joke by talking about Tucker Carlson's recent exit from Fox News. "Scandals have been devouring careers this year," Roy said. "Tucker got caught up. Got caught up like that dude from Vanderpump Rules."

In an NBC News video, Ariana is seen laughing while covering her mouth in a shot shown immediately after the comedian told the joke to the audience, which also included her and Tom's co-stars Lala Kent and Lisa Vanderpump. The trio attended the event as guests of The Daily Mail. And of course, U.S. President Joe Biden was also in attendance.

The event marked Ariana's first red carpet event since late February. Her and Tom's split was made public March 3. Amid the breakup news, rumors that he had a months-long affair with fellow Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss surfaced.

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A Timeline of the Vanderpump Rules Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Break Up Drama

Tom and Raquel both initially apologized on Instagram to Ariana for hurting her. In April, the Tom-Tom co-owner alleged that he broke up with Ariana on Valentine's Day, more than two weeks before their split was made public.

Ariana was "completely in denial and not accepting it," he said on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast. "I sit down to talk to her and she's like, 'I'm not letting you leave me. You're going to have to force me out of this relationship,'" he recalled of Ariana's alleged response. "I was like, 'Ariana, I don't think I could be faithful in a relationship with you right now.'"

Getty Images

Tom also told Howie Mandel that Ariana continued to act as if they were still in a relationship until she looked through his phone, which had fallen out of his pocket, and discovered his affair with Raquel. He said he was drawn to her because he was "in a very dark place" and that his relationship with Ariana "didn't have the intimacy" it used to have. Tom also said that he planned to break up with his now-ex in couple's therapy.

E! News had reached out to Ariana's rep for comment on Tom's remarks but hasn't heard back.

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