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Nikki Glaser revealed why she steered clear of politics while hosting the 83rd Golden Globe Awards ceremony Sunday night.
During a Tuesday appearance on Sirirus XM’s “The Howard Stern Show,” the 41-year-old comedian, who received overwhelmingly positive reviews for her second consecutive turn as the Golden Globes emcee, explained the absence of political jabs in her opening monologue.
“It’s not funny,” she said. “I was going to come in at some point and say, ‘I’m hearing from the bar that we’re out of ice. And you know, we don’t really need ice. And actually, I hate ice.’ It just felt like, oh, even that’s just being too trivial. That’s what it felt like. This isn’t even that anymore. It’s hard to strike the right tone.”
Nikki Glaser explained why she left political jokes out of the Golden Globes ceremony. (Rich Polk/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Glaser told Stern, 72, that comedy legend Steve Martin wrote a joke for her that mentioned President Donald Trump but later asked her to scrap it.
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“[My writer] said, ‘Hey, Steve sent in a joke.’ And he read it to me,” Glaser recalled. “And later on he said, ‘Steve said don’t do that. It’s not the right tone for the night.’ And he was right.”
The “Trainwreck” actress explained that the axed joke referred to the renaming of Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center to include Trump’s name. Last month, the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees unanimously decided rename the building “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Shortly after, crews installed Trump’s name on the building’s exterior signage and the center’s website was updated with the new branding.
The comedian discussed hosting the awards ceremony for the second time during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show.” (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
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“It was some version of ‘I just got back from D.C. from performing at the Trump Kennedy Center,'” Glaser recalled of Martin’s joke. “It was something about [the] Trump Kennedy Center. And here I’m at the Trump Beverly Hilton. It was something about that.”
“And it was like, you just don’t wanna say that guy’s name,” she said. “I just don’t wanna give it space.”
Glaser said she also nixed a joke about the nominees’ demographics after deciding it was “too woke.”
She told Stern the joke was “Martin Short, Jeremy Allen White, Gary Oldman: these are three actors nominated tonight. Actually, short, white, old men are also most of the actors nominated tonight.”
“And that was just cut because it felt too woke,” Glaser said. “It was clever, but it wasn’t funny.”
Glaser revealed that Steve Martin asked her to cut a Trump joke that he wrote for her. (Rich Polk/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)
While Glaser opted to avoid overtly political jabs, she did include quips about two hot-button topics that have received extensive media coverage, including the Epstein files and CBS News’ recent controversy.
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During her monologue, Glaser referenced convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to celebrities without directly mentioning the late billionaire’s name.
“I cannot believe the amount of star power we have in this room tonight. It’s insane. There’s so many A-listers,” Glaser said during the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. “And by A-listers, I do mean people who are on a list that has been heavily redacted.”
“And the Golden Globe for Best Editing goes to the Justice Department,” she added.
Glaser said that she also axed a joke that she said was “too woke.” (Michael Buckner/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)
During Glaser’s interview with Stern, the shock jock praised her for mocking CBS News despite the Golden Globes airing on CBS.
“And the award for ‘Most Editing’ goes to CBS News. Yes, CBS News, America’s newest place to see BS news,” Glaser joked at the Golden Globes.
Over the past year, CBS has experienced several controversies and new ownership that led to new leadership, which have some critics accusing the network of losing its credibility.
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CBS has faced backlash from some liberal commentators after its parent company, Paramount, made a $16 million settlement with Trump and has been accused of acquiescing to the Trump administration through Paramount’s new CEO, David Ellison.
Ellison has focused on revitalizing CBS News since becoming CEO, installing The Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief in October.
The comedian did include jokes about the Epstein files and CBS’ recent controversies. (Kevork Djansezian/CBS via Getty Images)
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Several progressive commentators have also slammed Weiss for making significant decisions behind-the-scenes, including pulling a “60 Minutes” segment about allegations of abuses at the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT just hours before it was scheduled to air.
After the Golden Globes aired, several critics pointed out that the ceremony was notably apolitical compared to recent years. Trump’s name was not directly invoked by Glaser, presenters or winners during the award show’s broadcast.
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Any political commentary was mostly relegated to red carpet interviews ahead of the ceremony, where both nominee Mark Ruffalo, winner Jean Smart and presenter Wanda Sykes took the opportunity to share their thoughts on current affairs.
Ruffalo, Smart and Sykes were also among the celebrities who wore pins with slogans that read, “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT.” The pins, which were also sported by Ariana Grande, Natasha Lyonne and others, were intended as a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) days after the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good.