It’s been quite a year for Jimmy Kimmel.
From being pulled off the air in September to a dramatic return just days later, the talk show host has certainly had a bumpy 2025.
And Kimmel, it seems, isn’t quite done.
On Thursday, he appeared on British TV station Channel 4, taking aim at President Donald Trump and pleading with viewers to stick with the US as he delivered the channel’s annual “alternative Christmas message” — a twist on the UK’s traditional Royal Christmas message.
“I have no idea if you know who I am,” Kimmel joked. “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.”
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show “indefinitely” in September after the host made comments about the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. His remarks had drawn public criticism from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who warned that affiliate broadcast licenses could come under review.
The decision to pull the show, which is one of the longest-running late-night programs on television, sparked backlash from many in Hollywood and became a flash point in the debate around freedom of speech.
Within a week, Disney, which owns ABC, announced that Kimmel would be returning.
“My country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored,” Kimmel said in the Christmas message. “We won, the president lost, and now I’m back on the air every night.”
Kimmel went on to say the US was currently in a “right mess,” adding: “We are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy.”
Urging British viewers not to “give up on us,” the host promised that Americans would turn things around.
“Give us about three years, please.”
Earlier this month, Kimmel signed a one-year extension to stay on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show through May 2027, Business Insider previously reported, citing a person familiar with the deal.
Ahead of the broadcast, a spokesperson for Channel 4 said in a statement that “Donald Trump’s return to the White House and wide ranging impact on the world has been the story of 2025 and it would be hard to think of a better person to address it than Jimmy Kimmel, who has found himself on the frontline of America’s battle over free speech.”
