The Kennedy Center has been accused of censorship by comedian Whitney Cummings, who claims that two jokes about President Donald Trump were cut from her standup routine at the 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor honoring Bill Maher on June 28th. Cummings revealed that one joke was completely nixed during rehearsal and another that she made on stage will be cut from the Netflix broadcast of the event, which hits the streaming platform on July 21st. The Kennedy Center has been under the shadow of Trump and his followers since December when he installed loyalists in leadership roles at the venue.
Cummings, who performed at the center, recalled rehearsing her set when she came to a joke about Trump. She noted that she tried to find a compromise at the rehearsals, offering to cut other jokes, but eventually decided to scratch the jab because she was concerned about people losing their jobs at the Kennedy Center. The comedian couldn’t hold back though, expressing her need to say the joke on her Good for You podcast.
The Jokes in Question
The joke that was dropped at the rehearsal was about Trump putting his name on the Kennedy Center, with Cummings saying it was “even petty for him” and referencing the Kennedys and Marilyn Monroe. Cummings did get at least one Trump joke in at the Kennedy Center performance, joking that “Trump couldn’t make it tonight. He got caught in sex traffic.” However, this joke will be cut from the Netflix broadcast.
Censorship Concerns
Cummings said she recently found out that the broadcast of her performance is cutting the joke out, despite it already being widely reported. The comedian explained that she was presented with a tricky conundrum about editing out the joke from the broadcast and didn’t know if she did the right thing or not. It was clear to her that people would lose their jobs if the joke wasn’t taken out of the broadcast or Trump could sue her.
Cummings said she usually wouldn’t care about a joke being cut from a broadcast, but “This is the Mark Twain Prize. This is the only time you shouldn’t get censored because it is about comedians using humor to criticize our elected officials.” She felt like she needed to fight for the joke because it’s the Mark Twain Prize, but also didn’t want anyone losing their jobs.
Netflix did not make the decision to cut Cummings’ joke, instead attributing the call to the Kennedy Center. The incident has raised concerns about censorship and the role of comedy in criticizing elected officials. As Cummings said, “I just want to be clear that the people who work there did their jobs well and protected their boss. They protected the President of the United States from me destroying his reputation.” The incident has sparked a debate about the limits of free speech and the power of comedy to critique those in power.
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