Jimmy Kimmel won the best talk show prize at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, using his acceptance speech to “thank” US president Donald Trump for the “many ridiculous things you do each and every day”.
The talk show host began by joking that the “FIFA Peace Prize would have been better, but this is nice too”, referring to the football association’s newly created Peace Prize that Trump was awarded at the 2026 World Cup draw.
“I really didn’t expect this,” he said, drawing laughs as he unrolled a theatrically long sheet of paper with his acceptance speech. He thanked the critics for the award as well as “our friends at Disney”, CEO Bob Iger and entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden.
He also thanked OpenAI boss Sam Altman, who Kimmel said “now owns my voice and face. Please don’t do anything weird with it”.
The comment likely referred to a deal between Disney and OpenAI announced in December in which the entertainment giant agreed to invest $1bn in OpenAI and license more than 200 of its iconic characters from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars heroes for use on OpenAI’s generative AI video app Sora.
Kimmel’s talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “indefinitely” suspended on 17 September after on-air comments following the killing of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk. It had been running for over 20 years, first airing in 2003.
The move sparked widespread backlash, protests and public debate about free speech, and the show was reinstated days later.
At the time, the president called the suspension a “Great News for America” and blasted the show for being “ratings challenged” before ABC reinstated the programme. Later, Trump said Kimmel had “ZERO talent” and called to “get the bum off the air”.
In December, ABC announced that Kimmel’s contract, set to expire in May this year, had been extended by a year to keep him on air until at least 2027.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
In his acceptance speech, Kimmel expressed his gratitude to everyone who stood by him at the time, including his agent and PR rep, “for all the towels and cigarettes that they chewed and smoked during a tumultuous year”.
“Thank you to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room, who supported us, who really stepped forward for us, and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or this country. Your actions were important, and we appreciate them,” he said.
He closed out his speech by thanking “our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we’d be going home empty-handed tonight”.
“So thank you, Mr President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day. It’s been a banner couple of weeks, and we can’t wait to get back on the air tomorrow night to talk about them.”
Kimmel was nominated alongside The Daily Show, Hot Ones, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
He teased his fellow nominees, joking that none but Sean Evans of Hot Ones cared “enough to be here with you tonight”.
Acknowledging the uncertain future of late-night television, with several shows facing possible extension, Kimmel said of Evans: “Congratulations to Sean. One day he will be the only one left.”
In an Alternative Christmas Message for Channel 4, Kimmel took aim at Trump, warning that “fascism” and “tyranny” were “booming” in the US under his administration, and apologised to the British public.
“I can tell you that, from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” he said.
“Tyranny is booming over here. You may have read in your colourful newspapers, my country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored.”
On Christmas Eve, the Trump administration banned two British free speech campaigners from the US, calling them “radical activists”.
“Here in the United States right now we are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy,” Kimmel said.