Jimmy Kimmel wins Critics Choice Award and thanks Donald Trump
Jimmy Kimmel won best talk show at the Critics Choice Awards and used his acceptance speech to roast Donald Trump and thank all the celebrities who rallied behind him earlier this year after ABC pulled his late-night show off the air after two major TV affiliate owners, Nexstar and Sinclair, complained about a monologue in which Kimmel discussed Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter.
“Thank you to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room, who have supported us, who have really stepped up and reminded us that we don’t take freedom of speech for granted in this city or in this country,” Kimmel said on January 4. “Your actions were important and we appreciate them.”
“And above all, I want to thank our President, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we would go home empty-handed tonight,” Kimmel added. “So thank you, Mr. President, for the many ridiculous things you do every day. It’s been a few weeks and we can’t wait to be back on the air tomorrow night to talk about it. Thank you all.”
Variety reported last month that Kimmel has struck a new deal with Disney to extend his late-night run for another year, keeping “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on the air until 2027. Kimmel regularly slaps Trump during his nightly monologues. The host recently condemned the president’s response to the killing of filmmaker Rob Reiner, calling Trump “deranged” and speculating that his death was “due to the anger” he caused in others by being anti-Trump.
“What we need at a time like this, besides common sense when it comes to guns and mental health care, is compassion and leadership. We haven’t gotten that from our president because he has none of that to give. Instead, we have a fool talking nonsense,” Kimmel said at the time. “It’s so hateful and mean. When I first saw it, I thought it was fake. My wife showed it to me this morning. I thought, ‘That seemed too much even for him.’ But nothing is ever too much for him.”
Kimmel also called out Trump in a special Christmas Day speech to Britain on Channel 4, where he recalled how “millions and millions of people stood up” when ABC took his show off the air, “and said, ‘No, this is not acceptable.’ People who never watched my show, people who went on the record saying they hate my show, spoke out, they marched, they did all this to support the right to free speech and because so many people spoke out, we came back. Our show came back stronger than ever.”
“We won, the president lost and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician in the world some justified and well-deserved trash talk. That’s a word, right? I used it well?” Kimmel added.
