A joke about President Donald Trump has been cut from this year’s Mark Twain Award ceremony, which began streaming on Netflix on Tuesday. Don’t blame Netflix for leaving it on the cutting room floor.
The streaming giant has long had a reputation for letting comics tell the jokes they want to tell in their specials, even if they’re not politically correct or downright offensive.
So when Whitney Cummings delivered a quip about the president during the taping of this year’s Twain Award, which honored HBO late-night host Bill Maher, her absence from the final product on Netflix raised eyebrows.
“I did hear that Trump might come tonight, but he couldn’t come,” Cummings said during the recording, adding: “He’s been caught up in sex trafficking.”
The clip went viral, as Cummings remarked on her good for you podcast earlier this month — but it wasn’t in the final product.
“The people there were great,” Cummings said. “They didn’t want to silence anyone. It’s true that their president is Donald Trump. They did their job.” “The joke was actually leaked by someone who was in the audience, or a journalist or something. It already existed.” the people magazine…but then they said, “We have to take it off the air.” I say, “Well, it already exists.” Who cares?
To be sure, a Netflix spokesperson says it’s not responsible for cutting jokes: “Although we would prefer not to cut jokes from anyone’s set, the Kennedy Center has the contractual right to do so.”
So here’s the story, the Kennedy Center cut the joke, so no need to complain to Ted Sarandos about this joke.
“The point is, there’s a big joke that’s been in the news that’s not going to be on the Mark Twain Prize list,” Cummings said on her podcast. “I hope you enjoy the show.”
She also added on
