A joke by comedian Whitney Cummings referencing Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was cut from the Netflix broadcast of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize ceremony honouring Bill Maher. The ceremony, held last month, included several jokes at the expense of Trump, who chairs the Kennedy Center but did not attend. The edit has drawn attention because the Kennedy Center, now controlled by Trump and a board dominated by his allies, holds contractual rights to remove content from the Netflix telecast, raising questions about political influence over artistic and comedic expression at the institution.

At the live ceremony, Cummings joked that Trump "got caught in sex traffic" when explaining his absence, drawing laughs from an audience that included Trump administration officials. A Netflix spokesperson confirmed it was not their preference to cut jokes but that the Kennedy Center has the contractual right to do so; the Kennedy Center did not immediately comment. Cummings later said on her podcast that she considered fighting to keep the joke in, given the Mark Twain Prize's tradition of using comedy to criticise elected officials, but ultimately let it be cut, while also publicly denying on social media that Netflix itself was responsible for any cuts.