News and media have been rife with jabs towards current US President Donald Trump and 'First Buddy' Elon Musk, but one brutal joke from Seth Rogan clearly hit too hard to be shown as the comedian's firey comments didn't make the cut during the Breakthrough Prize awards broadcast.
Elon Musk has been the subject of ridicule from TV shows like SNL more than once, and while the richest man in the world hasn't responded kindly to the impersonations, they're certainly not going away any time soon.
However, similar criticism levied towards the president might not be as easily received - especially in one particular awards show - as Seth Rogan quickly found out.
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As reported by the Independent, Rogan made a brutal swipe towards President Trump's handling of scientific research and the wider science community across America across the last few months, yet his extended joke was swiftly cut from the broadcast as if it had never happened.
It was indicated that Rogan's co-presenter, fellow actor Edward Norton, responded uncomfortably to his joke, and Breakthrough Prize awards co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's prior significant financial support for Trump has led some to infer an explanation behind the joke's removal.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Rogan's opening joke was as follows:
"It's amazing that others in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science. It's amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Jr, very fast."
Nervous laughter and a weak response throughout the room apparently greeted Rogan's comments, and the video posted by the Breakthrough Prize awards on YouTube has seemingly left in Norton's own comment that the audience gave "light applause," with a clear cut made between their approach and the 'start' of their speech.
Rogan certainly isn't alone in feeling this though, as many within the scientific community share his outrage towards the president's post-election actions.
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Over 1,900 scientists have signed what they're calling an 'SOS' letter, detailing an urgent warning to the Trump administration that their actions could have 'lasting' effects, and a similar open letter was penned by members of the Royal Society requesting Elon Musk's expulsion, as he has played a key role in the removal of funding as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
During Trump's near three month term as president he has orchestrated signficiant job and funding cuts across both key government departments and academic institutions, including losses in NOAA, NASA, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Additionally, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from Columbia University had it not followed the assigned disciplinary policies, and only recently has Harvard University seen $2.2 billion of federal funding frozen for its refusal to follow Trump's directives.
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One spokesperson for the Breakthrough Prize Foundation has indicated that the removal of Rogan's joke was simply due to the fact that the ceremony had ran on longer than necessary, as per the Independent, although Zuckerberg's aforementioned support of Trump alongside Meta's adjustment of major hate speech policies across their various social media platforms has led some to allege otherwise.
"These people in positions of power are absolute cowards," writes one user on a Reddit thread discussing Rogan's speech, with another adding: "This is what dystopia looks like unironically. The truth is negotiable and dictated to you [...] It's just a stupid riff at a meaningless award show. The fact that something so trivial must be manipulated into a preferred reality is the scary part."
Others have claimed that this will be a classic case of the Streisand effect, where the removal of Rogan's comments will only amplify them further and give greater weight to their meaning.