The ABC late night host spoke to British viewers in a Christmas message that blasted President Trump.
Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC return nets highest viewership in a decade
Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC after almost a week off air. Over 6 million tuned in to watch Kimmel’s return, the show’s highest viewership in a decade.
Jimmy Kimmel may have wrapped up his final show of 2025, but his criticisms of President Donald Trump have not gone on holiday break.
The late-night talk show host spoke to U.K. TV audiences in an alternative Christmas message on Britain’s Channel 4, where he said “tyranny is booming” in the United States.
“My country’s president would like to shut me up, because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored. The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden, we’re off the air. But then, you know what happened? A Christmas miracle happened,” he said.
During his speech, he addressed his pre-emptive hiatus in September when ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off U.S. airwaves following criticism over comments he made about Charlie Kirk‘s fatal shooting. Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr had pressured the network to take action against Kimmel, prompting outcry and accusations of government censorship.
Kimmel applauded the “millions of people who stood up and said ‘this is not acceptable,'” including fans and critics of the show who joined in advocating for freedom of speech.
“Because so many people spoke out, we came back. Our show came back stronger than ever,” he said. “We won, the president lost, and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on Earth a right and richly deserved bollicking.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told USA TODAY: “Reacting to Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Christmas speech’ would require me to watch it, and like many Americans, I didn’t even know it was happening. Jimmy has unfortunately wasted his time — yet again — doing something no one cares to watch. Merry Christmas!”
Kimmel warns the U.K. about ‘King Donny the Eighth’
The Emmy-winning comedian said he was delivering this message to warn the U.K. that government silencing doesn’t only happen in Russia, North Korea, or Los Angeles, adding, “That’s what we thought.”
“And now we’ve got King Donny VIII calling for executions,” Kimmel quipped, referencing a Nov. 20 Truth Social post where Trump accused six Democratic members of Congress of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump later clarified in a Nov. 21 interview on Fox News Radio’s “Brian Kilmeade Show” that he was not actually threatening Democratic lawmakers with execution.
Kimmel also recounted the series of nationwide “No Kings” protests this year that condemned the Trump Administration.
“Just for the record, we have nothing against your king. I mean, I don’t know if you know this, but his son lives here,” he quipped, alluding to Prince Harry. “Some of us just have a problem with the guy who thinks he is our king. Here in the United States, right now, we are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy, from the free press to science, to medicine, to judicial independence, to the actual White House itself.”
He continued: “We are a right mess, and we know this is also affecting you, and I just wanted to say, sorry, and we want you to know, or at least, I want you to know, that we’re not all like him. We’re not all like that.”
Kimmel urged people in the U.K. to have faith in Americans this holiday season as the U.S. goes “through a bit of a wobble right now.”
“We’ll come around. It may not seem like it, but we love you guys. We even love the things about you that you don’t like. Like Simon Cowell, for instance. We are not bright. We’re Americans. No one knows better than you. We’re always just a little bit late to the game. But do we come through in the end? Maybe. Give us about three years, please.”