Comedian Whitney Cummings has said a joke referencing Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, which she performed at Bill Maher's Mark Twain Prize ceremony on 28 June, was cut from Netflix's broadcast of the event on 21 July. Cummings said the Kennedy Center, rather than Netflix, requested the edit, though she did not identify who specifically made the decision; Netflix confirmed the venue holds contractual rights to cut material from the set. The episode has drawn attention because the Mark Twain Prize is intended to honour comedians for fearless, uncompromising satire of public figures, making the removal notable given the award's stated purpose.

Cummings said the line — "Donald Trump couldn't make it tonight. He got caught in sex traffic" — had survived into her final set but was later flagged for removal, and had already circulated online before the broadcast cut. She said she was warned Trump might sue, recalling his 2013 lawsuit against Maher over a separate joke, and suggested the venue's staff, whom she called "amazing," were simply following orders from a boss ultimately answerable to Trump. A separate Trump joke, about his influence over Kennedy Center programming, did make the final broadcast, and Cummings noted the irony of censorship at an award meant to celebrate uncompromising political humour.