The organizers of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize ceremony, the star-studded evening known informally as the Oscars of Science, should have thought twice before booking the famously unfiltered Seth Rogen to present an award — something they seemed to acknowledge when they cut out parts of his remarks from the official video that streamed on YouTube a week later. The Studio creator and star has a history of going rogue at awards shows (calling out the 2021 Emmys’ COVID safety protocols, for example, or getting bleeped for an off-color Ryan Gosling joke at this year’s Golden Globes), 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. Related Stories After being introduced by host James Corden, Norton began by praising some of the tech titans in the audience — which included Breakthrough Prize co-founders Yuri Milner, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sergey Brin — for underwriting the awards. (Each recipient is given $3 million.) Emboldened by a dirty martini backstage, Rogen jumped in with a none-too-subtle reference to past attendee and current DOGE mastermind Elon Musk. “And 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 a few minutes later 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.” When asked why Rogen’s potentially embarrassing comments were excised, a spokesperson for the Breakthrough Prize Foundation said, “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.” Rogen could not be reached for comment. (The Hollywood Reporter is the media sponsor of the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony.)