Whitney Cummings Censored by Kennedy Center; Where You at, Bill Maher?

Thanks to a preening dinner at the White House, Bill Maher was able to secure a Mark Twain Prize from the Kennedy Center, finally granting him a prestigious award that he’s coveted for so long. (Bill thinks he’s been unjustly shunned because of his righteous truth-telling.)

However, the Real Time host ran into a problem: He actually had to get people to speak at this thing, and that conundrum resulted in a sparse and problematic lineup populated by Louis C.K., Jay Leno, and Whitney Cummings. But that’s OK, because Bill Maher is all about speaking bold truths and resisting censorship from all sides. So, surely, he’ll speak up after what happened to one of his presenters. It should be any minute now.

For those of you who don’t know, Cummings went viral shortly after the ceremony when someone inside the event leaked the following joke: “I actually heard Trump may come tonight but he couldn’t make it. He got caught in sex traffic.” But when it came time for Netflix to stream the ceremony, the joke was missing, and Cummings did not take its exclusion lightly.

Via Huffpost:

On her podcast, Cummings couldn’t help but spot the irony of the experience. “This is the Mark Twain Prize,” she said. “This is the only time that you shouldn’t get censored because it’s about comedians using humor to criticize our elected officials.”

She also said that if Trump did in fact sue, she’d win ― and said she might even have grounds to sue him instead. But the joke was cut from the special, which begins streaming on Netflix this week. Cummings said the incident led to a realization.

“I am so clear now that when somebody gets offended by something, they are guilty of the thing,” she said. “I just think it’s a little weird that we can’t joke about it.”

Netflix has made it clear that it did not remove the joke of its own accord. According to THR, The Kennedy Center exercised a “contractual right” to edit the broadcast. Since the institution is currently under the control of Trump stooges, here we are. Cummings also went to bat for the streamer, tweeting late Monday night: “I was super clear that Netflix did not cut anything from my Mark Twain prize set. Netflix always supports comedy and comics. Quit spreading rumors ya weirdos.”

As for Bill Maher, well, he hasn’t made a peep yet. In fairness, this story just broke overnight, and he’s probably still sleeping. It’s barely morning on the west coast as I’m typing this. There’s also a very good chance that he’s stoned out of his mind while making his latest podcast guest want to eat glass. Definitely can’t rule that out.

My point is let’s give Bill a second. Yes, the guy’s smugness rubs me the wrong way, and it would behoove him to keep quiet after getting his precious award, but this type of censorship does historically piss him off. Plus, he can make the whole thing about himself. That’s Bill Maher’s catnip.