Jimmy Kimmel used his speech honoring his Peabody Award to launch a brutal attack on Donald Trump.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was announced as a winner of the award in April after facing what Peabody described as an “unprecedented” attack from the Trump administration and unsuccessful attempts to have the show completely taken off the air.
During his acceptance speech in Beverly Hills on Sunday, Kimmel joked that he had “never felt dumber than I do right now” while being honored alongside documentarians and journalists who have covered subjects such as war and ICE’s hardline enforcement tactics.
“I called our president Fattyshack,” Kimmel said, before listing other nicknames he has given the 79-year-old president over the years. “And somehow we got a Peabody out of that. This country really has gone to s--t,” he added, via The Hollywood Reporter.
“Making jokes about the president in America shouldn’t win you a prize. We have the right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to criticize and satirize our leaders,” he added.
“You sent a message that we do care, and we stand up, and we will not stand by when comedy and journalism and dissent are censored and regulated and criminalized.”
Kimmel went on to thank the staff who worked on a show, which was temporarily taken off the air in September 2025 following pressure from MAGA figures and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr over comments he made following the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
During a monologue days after Kirk’s murder, Kimmel suggested MAGA figures were “desperately” trying to portray the suspect as “anything other than one of them,” and mocked Trump for bragging about the construction of his White House ballroom when asked how he was coping with the Turning Point USA founder’s death.
When the show returned, Kimmel acknowledged that his remarks may have “felt ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both,” but said he was not trying to “make light” of Kirk’s murder.
Kimmel ended his speech on Sunday by thanking Trump for helping him win the Peabody Award and “inspiring us to fight for our freedom of speech,” before reeling off a number of other nicknames he has for the president, including “our commander-in-thief” and “Abrascam Lincoln.”
Ben Affleck handed the late-night host the award and praised Kimmel for “refusing to back down.”
“What he said to me was it wasn’t for his own benefit, but because he knows justice dies in the dark—I taught him that as Batman,’ Affleck said.
“Comedy and satire are vital parts of democratic speech, whether the government likes them or not.”
