Kennedy Center cut Whitney Cummings's Trump-Epstein joke from Bill Maher's Mark Twain Prize broadcast on Netflix

On July 21, 2026, Netflix streamed the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Bill Maher—without a joke Whitney Cummings had performed at the June 28 live taping. The excised joke referenced Donald Trump's association with Jeffrey Epstein: "I actually heard Trump may come tonight, but he couldn't make it. He got caught in sex traffic." The clip had already circulated online after the taping. Ahead of the broadcast, the Kennedy Center directed that the joke be removed; Netflix confirmed the Kennedy Center "has the contractual right" to make such cuts, while adding it was the streamer's "preference not to cut jokes from anyone's set."

The Kennedy Center, a federally chartered institution, operates under leadership appointed by the President. Cummings confirmed on her "Good for You" podcast that the Kennedy Center—not Netflix—was responsible for the decision, describing the venue's staff as "amazing" and adding that "it is true that their boss is Donald Trump, so they did their job." A Kennedy Center spokesperson described the edits as made "in a collaborative way to produce the best product for broadcast," without addressing Cummings's account directly. On X, Cummings posted that Netflix "always supports comedy and comics" and had nothing to do with the cut.

The joke had not been the only Cummings material cut: she had also disclosed earlier in July that a different Trump joke was removed after rehearsal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trump health adviser Mehmet Oz were present at the June 28 taping.