Hollywood filmmaker-actor Seth Rogen took a swing at US President Donald Trump during the 2025 Breakthrough Prize ceremony, but if someone caught the event on YouTube, they’d never know it happened.
A week after the glitzy Oscars of Science took place in Santa Monica, US, fans who watched the official stream noticed something odd: parts of Seth’s speech were missing. Specifically, his scathing joke linking POTUS to the decline of American science was nowhere to be found in the video.
“It’s amazing that others (who have been) in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science,” Seth had said at the event, standing next to co-presenter Edward Norton, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The two had just been introduced by host James Corden, and Edward had kicked things off with praise for the billionaire benefactors in the audience — including Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and Yuri Milner — who help bankroll the $3 million awards.
Seth, drink in hand after reportedly enjoying a dirty martini backstage, didn’t hold back. “It’s amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Jr, very fast,” he added, drawing awkward laughter and a hesitant response from Edward: “I’d say that’s a smattering.” Rogen replied, “That’s a smattering.”
But viewers who tuned in later saw a cleaner version. The video cut from the pair’s entrance straight into a more neutral moment, skipping over the jabs entirely and suggesting Edward’s “light applause” line referred to their on-stage entrance, not Seth’s Trump takedown.
Another moment that didn’t make the final cut? A brief joke Seth cracked while explaining the work of physics laureate Gerardus ’t Hooft. Using a wheel as a metaphor for symmetry, Seth joked that it could spin left or right, then tossed out a cheeky line that the crowd would “roll right,” according to someone in the room. In the video, that line is gone — edited out in favor of Edward’s follow-up: “But that would break the symmetry.”
When asked why these parts were edited, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation attributed the cuts to time constraints. “This year’s ceremony lasted longer than the prior few years, and several edits were made in order to meet the originally planned run time,” a spokesperson said.