No, I don’t think using a common figure of speech means it was staged. That’s silly.

I’m sure this news has wholly buried it but last week there was a report leaked that said this correspondents dinner was going to be all about getting revenge on the people who wronged Trump

The specific language used was weird, but I can’t say one way or the other yet.

“Donald Trump will launch a ‘revenge’ attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night,” an outletrevealed on Wednesday, April 22.

“He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources,” the Daily Beast reported.

https://okmagazine.com/p/donald-trump-planning-revenge-attack-media-white-house-correspondents-dinner/