Whitney Cummings Says Netflix Cut Her Donald Trump Joke From Mark Twain Prize Special

Whitney Cummings, a comedian, revealed that Netflix pulled a joke about U.S. President Donald Trump from the streamed Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Bill Maher. According to the comedian, she was asked to withdraw the content despite the joke having been said live on air.

A joke that said Trump did not attend the ceremony because “he got caught in sex traffic” was told during the ceremony at the Kennedy Center, but the joke was removed from the streamed special scheduled for July 21. Bill Maher was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor that night, along with comedians like Louis C.K., Jay Leno, and Woody Harrelson, with Trump as the target of their jokes.

The comedian said the problem started before the ceremony, when she was asked to remove some jokes that might cause venue personnel to lose their jobs. Trump is the Kennedy Center’s chairman of the board.

“I assume he just like wanted to put his name on it,” Cummings said. “I didn’t realize he is the chair, the board chair, terrorizing the people that work there. Like I was practicing my jokes and people were like, yeah, we’ll get fired if you say that. And I’m like, that is the worst thing you could hear before as a comic doing a, it was kind of roasty. What a dork. I’m like, if he even watches this, he is such a dork.”

She said she cut one joke, a cruder bit referencing the Kennedy family and Marilyn Monroe, before the show.

“But I did cut a joke and I feel the need to just say it. And I’m sure it’s going to get us demonetized on YouTube, possibly kicked off. Truth Social might be the only platform we have left to do this show on,” she said. “For Trump to put his name on the Kennedy Center, this is petty even for him. But Trump has always hated John F. Kennedy because the Kennedys had Marilyn Monroe c***** before he had a chance to grab her by the c*****. Pretty sure all those words are bleeped if you’re watching this on YouTube. But I found myself trying to trade in jokes. I had a joke like it’s like Trump didn’t make it tonight. He got caught in s**t traffic. I don’t want to tell. I shouldn’t tell the jokes. Okay, it’s in the special.”

Cummings described weighing whether to swap one joke for another. “But I found myself being like, what if I cut that one and then do, wouldn’t Trump see that and go like, yeah, the Kennedys did kill her? He wouldn’t,” she said.

She tied the dilemma to the purpose of the award itself.

“I feel like he’d like that one. They’re going like, can I do this joke? I don’t want to do this joke. But did he really kill? Was it the CIA that killed her? And I’m like, why is this even a conversation? First of all, why am I the bad guy for saying what these people did? And second, why are we all afraid to say it?” Cummings said. “And I guess that’s what the Mark Twain Prize for American humor is. It’s using humor to call out political leaders. But just to be like, oh yeah, okay, I wouldn’t want to hurt the Kennedys’ feelings. God forbid one of the people that helped arrange Marilyn Monroe’s puke perfectly so that it looked like an overdose. I wouldn’t want them to be offended.”

In a later episode, Cummings said the Trump traffic joke stayed in her live set but that she was subsequently asked to cut it from the broadcast. She said she tried to describe the situation carefully out of concern for the venue’s employees.

“Not only did I have to cut a joke in rehearsal, then the joke I did, I ended on Donald Trump couldn’t make it tonight. He got caught in s**t traffic. Stayed in,” she said. “And then they said, we would like to cut it out. So I’m going to be very careful with how I say this because the people at the venue have been amazing. They don’t want to silence anyone. True that their boss is Donald Trump. They did their job. I just don’t know if I did the right thing or not. It was very clear to me that they would lose their job.”

Cummings said the joke had already circulated publicly before the request to remove it. “The joke was already leaked by someone that was in the audience, journalist or something. It was already on in People Magazine and Daily. It was already out,” she said. “But then they said, we need to cut it from the broadcast. I’m like, well, it’s already out there. Who cares? And they’re like, he will sue you. I don’t buy it. Number one. Number two, he might.”

Watch the clip below!