Jimmy Kimmel Flips Trump’s Failed Power Play Move Into Another Savage Blow That Makes Heads Spin
Jimmy Kimmel spent large parts of 2025 publicly feuding with President Donald J. Trump over free speech concerns, and the highly publicized verbal clash continued into 2026.
The comedian and television host had the last laugh after his late-night show picked up yet another Best Talk Show award, with fans noting the irony that Kimmel’s sharp monologues keep earning trophies while Trump’s late-night rants only seem to spark outrage.
On Jan. 4, Kimmel, 58, accepted the Best Talk Show award at the Critics’ Choice Awards for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” using his acceptance speech to sarcastically thank the man he’s been trading shots with online as the crowd erupted in applause.
“I want to thank our president, Donald ‘Jennifer’ Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty-handed tonight,” Kimmel stated, substituting a woman’s name for Trump’s given middle name, which is John.
He continued, “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.”
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Donald Trump after winning the Critics Choice Awards for Best Talk Show:
“And most of all, I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty handed tonight” pic.twitter.com/4JagNhAD2H
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 5, 2026
Trump and Kimmel have been at odds for nearly a decade, dating back to the Republican leader’s first term as president from 2017 to 2021. Many of Kimmel’s jokes presented on “Live” were filled with jabs at the New York-bred politician.
The heat intensified when Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and marked the host as a target in his second-term revenge tour. Kimmel’s comments on the passing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and Trump’s reaction during a monologue in September ignited a fresh round in his dispute with the president.
ABC temporarily suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following backlash from conservatives over his remarks about Kirk, who was shot at a Turning Point USA event in Utah on Sept. 10, 2025.
Trump initially celebrated Kimmel’s presumed career downfall, but when the network reinstated the comedian to the hosting duties just six days later, the president ranted on his Truth Social platform about his nemesis’s on-air survival.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there,” Trump complained.
The entire ordeal was treated as a fight over First Amendment rights, which led to Kimmel’s defenders canceling their Hulu and Disney+ streaming services subscriptions as a way to protest Disney-owned ABC’s decision to pull him from the airwaves.
Kimmel got the latest lick in the back-and-forth by slamming Trump at the Critics’ Choice Awards. The “Smurfs” voice actor took a victory lap at the ceremony that earned co-signs from social media users who dislike the sitting commander in chief.
“Jimmy never lets him rest, and I love it,” an Instagram commenter expressed in reaction to Kimmel mocking Trump in front of fellow Hollywood elites, like Timothée Chalamet, Michael B. Jordan, and Ariana Grande.
Similarly, one comment read, “Jimmy stays on Trump’s neck! I love it.” A third Kimmel supporter on the app declared, “Jimmy [really] went against the POTUS and won. He’s definitely different.”
“Jimmy [is] from Brooklyn. He’s not backing down,” stated another fan of the veteran entertainer from the Mill Basin neighborhood of New York City.
However, Kimmel did face some pushback in the comment section as well. For instance, someone posted, “Nothing funny about this guy in the slightest.”
“Don’t get cancelled again playing [with] Donald,” an apparent Trump backer warned. Knowing the president’s tendency to be petty against his rivals, a fan declared, “Protect Jimmy Kimmel at all cost.”
Kimmel reflected on his tumultuous 2025 while speaking with the press backstage at the Critics’ Choice Awards, comparing his temporary suspension to a famous scene from the classic novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain.
“It’s interesting. It was almost a near-death experience. Of course, not literally, but I did feel a little bit like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn watching their own funeral when all this stuff happened,” Kimmel told reporters.
The father of four children resumed, “To be here and to see that people reacted to it, not just in a positive way but in almost a desperate way. We’re like, ‘Oh, boy, when they come after the comedians, this is when we draw the line.’ And we’re very grateful that they drew the line at us.”
The ongoing tit-for-tat between him and Trump will likely play out throughout the rest of 2026. A new episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs on Jan. 5, and viewers will be tuned in to see if he has more pinpointed words for the former “The Apprentice” reality show star.
Even though Trump is dealing with controversial American military actions in Venezuela and rising health care costs at home, the never-restrained political lightning rod is sure to take time to fire back at Kimmel in some form.
