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Comedian Nikki Glaser is warning about the chilling effect Donald Trump’s second term has had on the country’s comedy landscape. Glaser said there’s “a real fear” among some comedians that they could be “detained” over political jokes, especially those involving the president.
“Like, you just are scared that you’re gonna get doxxed and death threats, or who knows where this leads, like, detained,” Glaser told Deadline on Sunday.
“I went from being like, ‘I don’t want to talk about politics because I don’t want to alienate anyone,’ to like, ‘I want to talk about it but now I’m scared to,’” Glaser said.
“Honestly, that’s not even like a joke,” she continued. “It’s like a real fear. So it’s unfortunate that that’s true, but I’m not gonna lie and say I don’t think about that sometimes and go, ‘Oh, God. Can I just say, I hope they all know, I can be up on the gallows and say I was just joking. I’m a comedian.’ I hope that that’s a defense.”
The comedian, known for brutally honest celebrity roasts, also told The Hill she no longer “felt safe” including political jokes in her routines. “I missed that moment where I could say stuff, because I had a point of view and I felt safe speaking to that,” Glaser said. “I went from being like, ‘I don’t want to talk about politics because I don’t want to alienate anyone,’ to like, ‘I want to talk about it but now I’m scared to.’ And that’s just that’s a s‑‑‑-y place to be.”
Glaser made the comments at Sunday’s ceremony for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The event, celebrating honoree Conan O’Brien, was held in the shadow of a slow-rolling controversy at the performing arts center. Back in February, Trump fired multiple members of the board of trustees and appointed himself chairman. Trump vowed to rid the center of “woke” influences, drag shows and “anti-American propaganda.”
Not all of Glaser’s fellow comedians shied away from mocking the president at Sunday’s ceremony. John Mulaney joked that the Kennedy Center would soon be renamed “The Roy Cohn Pavilion for Big, Strong Men Who Love ‘Cats,’” a reference to Trump’s late mentor, political fixer Roy Cohn and the president’s affinity for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Will Ferrell said the event was a distraction since he was “supposed to be shutting down the Department of Education” instead of attending.
During his acceptance speech, O’Brien appeared to make a thinly veiled reference to Trump in his praise for the prize’s namesake, telling the crowd, “Twain hated bullies ... He punched up, not down. And he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak ... Twain was allergic to hypocrisy and he loathed racism. Twain was suspicious of populism, jingoism, imperialism, the money-obsessed mania of the Gilded Age and any expression of mindless American might or self-importance.”
“Above all, Twain was a patriot in the best sense of the world,” O'Brien added. “He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed. Twain wrote, ‘Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.’”