Comedian Whitney Cummings delivered a scathing joke about President Donald Trump’s connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, despite being advised against it.
Cummings Takes Aim at Trump-Epstein Ties
According to a live post from Deadline’s Washington, D.C., reporter Ted Johnson, Cummings told the audience: “I actually heard Trump may come tonight but he couldn’t make it. He got caught in sex traffic.” The joke referenced Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes, to which Trump has long downplayed his association, claiming they had a falling out in the mid-2000s.
Cummings later revealed she was told not to use that joke prior to the event, as reported by The New York Times. The quip came even though Trump handpicked guest of honor Bill Maher as the Kennedy Center’s self-appointed chairman.
Trump Not Present, But Sting Felt
President Trump was not in the room when Cummings made the remark, but the joke likely stung especially hard given that his name was removed from the Kennedy Center building just weeks ago. The event honored Maher, who has softened his stance on Trump after privately dining with him at the White House last year, describing him as a “gracious and measured” host.
However, Maher told CNN on the red carpet that their relationship has since soured. “You know, the last four or five times he’s been public about me, it’s all back to yelling and screaming. ‘I’m this, I’m terrible, I’m a lunatic liberal, I’m a lunatic, I’m a lightweight, I’m a jerk.’ So we’re back to that,” Maher said.
