Jimmy Kimmel Slams “Tyranny” in Christmas Message, Declares “We Won, the President Lost”

Jimmy Kimmel used Christmas Day to send a sharp message about U.S. politics during a special broadcast in the U.K. The late-night host appeared on Channel 4 as part of the network’s annual Alternative Christmas Message for 2025, a tradition that has featured public figures since the early 1990s.

According to Channel 4, Kimmel focused much of his message on President Donald Trump. He told viewers that “tyranny is booming” in the United States and claimed Trump “thinks he is our king.” The tone was serious but still carried Kimmel’s familiar humor.

Kimmel also spoke about the recent and short-lived suspension of his ABC show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. He linked the decision to comments he made following the murder of Charlie Kirk. During the message, Kimmel said Trump tried to silence him “because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored.”

He described his return to television as an unexpected win. Kimmel said public support played a big role in the show coming back on air. Calling it an early holiday surprise, he added that the outcome showed the power of free speech.

“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 on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking,” he said, joking about using a British phrase. “That’s a word, right, I used it properly?”

The message aired shortly after the King’s traditional Christmas speech. Near the end, Kimmel addressed British viewers directly. He apologized for the current state of U.S. politics and said Americans should not all be judged the same way.

He asked the audience to be patient, saying change takes time. “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.”

Check out the full transcript of the message below:

Hi I’m Jimmy Kimmel.

I have no idea if you know who I am, but I was asked to deliver this year’s Alternative Christmas Message (which I’ve heard is a big deal) so I hope you do, but if not I host what you call a chat show (we call it a talk show) in what you call the colonies, I think? I honestly have no idea what’s going on over there.

I do know what’s going on over here though, and I can tell you that, from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year. 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. The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden we were off the air. But then, you know what happened? A Christmas miracle happened. Well, it was September, it was a September miracle. But the holiday does seem to come earlier and earlier every year, doesn’t it?

Millions and millions of people stood up and said: ‘No, this is not acceptable’. People who never watched my show, people who were on record saying they hate my show spoke out, they marched, they did this all to support the right to a free expression of 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 givin’ the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking. That’s a word, right, I used it properly?

And the reason I’m telling you this story is because maybe you’re thinking: ‘Oh a government silencing its critics is something that happens in places like Russia, or North Korea, or LA, not the UK’. Well, that’s what we thought and now we’ve got King Donny the Eighth calling for executions. It happens fast.

You know it’s funny we Americans are very proud of not having a king. It’s kind of why we left. Earlier this year tens of millions of us marched at protests called No Kings. You had some of those there. And 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. We just – well 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, 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.

Look I know (from the musical Hamilton) that our countries didn’t start off on the greatest note, but I also know (from seeing Love Actually) that we have a special relationship. So, if I might speak on behalf of my country – which I most certainly do not – our message to you, our friends across the pond this Christmas is: don’t give up on us. We’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but 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. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for Spider-Man. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays.

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