The Mark Twain Prize ceremony streamed on Netflix this week, with comic Whitney Cummings hosting the comedy awards show – but one of her jokes about Donald Trump didn’t make it into the final edit.
The comedian, 43, made an edgy quip – which appeared to reference the US president’s former friendship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – during the ceremony at the John F Kennedy Center when it was filmed earlier this year. Trump vehemently denies any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not been accused of criminal misconduct.
While the joke was reported at the time, it didn’t make it into Netflix’s streamed special of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Tuesday (21 July), which honoured political commentator and TV presenter Bill Maher.
Speaking on her Good for You podcast on Monday about the joke being axed, Cummings said that the bosses of the venue – which has Trump as its chairman – have been “amazing”.
“They don’t want to silence anyone. It is true that their boss is Donald Trump, so they did their job. I was presented with a tricky conundrum,” she said.
“The joke was already leaked by someone that was in the audience, a journalist or something. It was already in People magazine … But then they said, ‘We need to cut it from the broadcast.’ I’m like, ‘Well, it’s already out there.’ Who cares?”
Netflix later clarified that it was not behind the joke being cut, with a spokesperson telling The Hollywood Reporter: “While it’s our preference not to cut jokes from anyone’s set, The Kennedy Center has the contractual right to do so.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the Kennedy Center told the publication that “edits to a show are always made in a collaborative way to produce the best product for broadcast”.
Cummings waded into the discourse again on Tuesday, writing on X: “I was super clear that Netflix did not cut anything from my Mark Twain prize set. Netflix always supports comedy and comics. Quit spreading rumors ya weirdos.”
The Independent has contacted the White House, the Kennedy Center and Netflix for comment.
Cummings hosted this year’s ceremony, which honoured Maher with the help of Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno, John Mellencamp, Louis CK and others. Previous recipients of the award have included Conan O’Brien, Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler, Jon Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Whoopi Goldberg and Richard Pryor.
While one of Cummings’ jokes was cut, she was able to take a pop at Trump a few times during the streamed special. “I’m just glad that we could all celebrate Bill even though Trump is now the board chair of this venue,” she said at one point. “He actually does have a lot of power here and he has a say in what productions go on here, so enjoy this fall’s three-month run of white Hamilton.”
In March, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly told The Atlantic that rumours of Maher receiving the Mark Twain Prize were “fake news”, adding: “Bill Maher will NOT be getting this award.”
While the rumours ultimately proved to be true, the White House’s response may have had something to do with Maher consistently mocking Trump on his late-night show for over a decade. He previously joked that Trump was the “love child” of an orangutan and a human woman, resulting in Trump suing him for $5m in 2013 before withdrawing the lawsuit.
