Golden Globes Host Nikki Glaser Explains Decision To Cut Trump Jokes From Monologue

Golden Globes presenter Nikki Glaser has admitted to cutting political material from her opening monologue at this year’s ceremony.

Speaking on The Howard Stern Show following her second time hosting the show, Nikki explained that she cut material about Donald Trump and ICE from her opening monologue, out of concern she might be “trivialising” serious subjects amid the current political unrest in the US.

“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’,” the comedian said, before coming to the conclusion that it felt like she was “just being too trivial”.

She continued: “It’s hard to strike the right tone.”

Nikki also revealed that she axed a joke suggesting the ceremony’s location was being renamed to the “Trump Beverly Hilton”, in light of recent headlines about the renaming of the iconic Kennedy Center.

In the end, though, she concluded that “you just don’t say that guy’s name right now”. “I just want to give it space,” she added.

The 2026 Golden Globes took place days after the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, resulting in widespread protests throughout the world.

On the red carpet, guests like Wanda Sykes, Natasha Lyonne and Mark Ruffalo wore “Be Good” pins in tribute to Good, with the Marvel star also lambasting Trump in a number of impassioned interviews as he made his way into the event.

Nominee Ariana Grande was also pictured during the ceremony wearing an “ICE out” pin.

Meanwhile, Nikki did not avoid politics completely during her set.

In particular, she had a few scathing remarks for CBS News, claiming it’s “America’s newest place to see BS news”, while also making jokes alluding to the heavily-redacted Epstein files released towards the end of last year.