Breakthrough Prize 2025: Seth Rogen’s Criticism of Trump Cut

Criticism of Trump Was Cut From the “Full” Stream of Breakthrough Prize

While presenting award at the event known as the Oscars of Science, ‘The Studio’ star pointed out the irony of tech titans’ support for the Trump administration’s defunding of science. The potentially embarrassing comments were edited out.

The Studio creator and star has a history of going rogue at awards shows, and he did it again from the stage of at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica on April 5, when he co-presented the Special Breakthrough Prize in Physics alongside Edward Norton at the ceremony’s 13th edition.

“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,” he said, clearly making Norton uncomfortable. The comment underlined the irony of Silicon Valley’s increasingly cozy relationship with the Trump administration, which has cut federal science funding and defied scientific consensus. “It’s amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Jr, very fast,” Rogen continued.

The ad-lib landed with a thud, or “light applause,” as a visibly uncomfortable Norton joked. “I’d say that’s a smattering,” Rogen said. Those watching the event on YouTube a week later, though, wouldn’t have a clue about Rogen’s pointed barbs. The so-called “full video” was subtly edited to make it seem as if Norton’s “light applause” comment was a reference to his entrance with Rogen.

The stream also cut out a throw-away joke Rogen made in describing the work of the physics prize winner, Gerardus ‘t Hooft of the University of Utrecht. Using the metaphor of a wheel to describe the concept of symmetry, Rogen said the wheel could roll either left or right — and quipped that the crowd would “roll right,” according to a source in the audience. The edited version skips over the joke and cuts straight to Norton’s response: “But that would break the symmetry.”

Rogen could not be reached for comment.
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