During the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, Seth Rogen caused a stir with a joke about billionaires in the audience supporting Donald Trump. The joke, which targeted tech giants like Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was cut from the YouTube stream of the event. Rogen’s quip about individuals in the room underwriting the election of Trump, who he claimed had “destroyed all of American science,” raised eyebrows.
Rogen’s joke, which made fellow presenter Edward Norton visibly uncomfortable, seemed to take aim at previous attendee Elon Musk and others linked to the Trump administration. The comedian’s comment about the impact of $320 million and RFK Jr. on science drew attention to the controversial connections of some of the event’s attendees, including Trump megadonor Chamath Palihapitiya and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Despite the joke reportedly falling flat, it was noticeably missing from the ceremony’s later stream. A spokesperson for the Breakthrough Prize Foundation explained that the cut was necessary to adhere to the planned runtime of the event. Rogen has not yet responded to requests for comment on the issue.
sentence in a different way:
The dog chased the cat around the yard.
The cat was chased by the dog in the yard.
