Kimmel mocks Trump as King Donny VIII during controversial UK Christmas message

Jimmy Kimmel unleashed fresh attacks on President Trump and declared “tyranny is booming” in the United States during a Christmas Day address in Britain — escalating his feud with the White House months after ABC briefly pulled his show over his comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

The late-night host used Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message to say that “from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” delivering one of his most pointed political monologues yet — on a UK network, not American television.

The address aired on Christmas Day on Channel 4, less than two hours after King Charles III’s annual speech. It was billed by the network as a deliberately provocative counterpoint to the royal address, which is intended to be non-partisan and seeks to avoid controversy.

Kimmel leaned into the role of provocateur, accusing the US government of trying to silence him while mocking Trump as “King Donny VIII.”

“You may have read in your colorful 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,” Kimmel said in the broadcast.

“The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden, we were off the air.”

Kimmel framed his return to television as a victory over Trump, telling viewers: “We won, the president lost.”

The comments marked a sharp escalation in rhetoric from Kimmel, who has long been one of Trump’s most vocal critics on late-night television.

“Tyranny is booming over here,” Jimmy Kimmel explained near the open of his four-minute Alternative Christmas Message on the UK’s Channel 4, warning of accelerating authoritarianism in the United States and recounting his own recent clash with the Trump administration over free…

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) December 25, 2025

 

Kimmel said “tyranny is booming over here,” warning British viewers that democratic backsliding can happen quickly.

He boasted that after his suspension, he was “back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking” — a slang British term that means a scolding or a reprimand.

“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.”

Last month, Trump said Democratic lawmakers who urged US service members to refuse unlawful orders engaged in “seditious behavior, punishable by death,” and called for them to be arrested and put on trial.

Democrats condemned the language as dangerous and inciting political violence, while the White House denied Trump was literally calling for executions but did not retract his references to capital punishment.

The Christmas address by Kimmel followed a turbulent fall for the late-night host, whose ABC show was briefly suspended in September after a political firestorm over comments he made about the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Kirk was assassinated during a speaking event at a Utah college, and Kimmel later accused the “MAGA gang” of dishonestly trying to distance the alleged killer from conservative politics.

The remarks triggered intense backlash from conservative activists, advertisers and station owners.

Several local affiliates moved to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” and Disney subsidiary ABC described the show as being pulled “indefinitely,” sparking a national debate over political pressure, satire and free speech.

Kimmel referenced that episode directly in his Christmas message, describing his return as a “September miracle.”

“Millions and millions of people stood up and said: ‘No, this is not acceptable,’” he said, claiming support came even from people who disliked his show.

“Because so many people spoke out, we came back.”

The suspension lasted about a week before ABC reversed course amid public backlash. In December, Disney extended Kimmel’s contract through 2027 — a signal of corporate support despite the controversy.

Kimmel told British viewers he was sorry for exporting US political chaos overseas.

“We’re not all like him,” Kimmel said, referring to Trump.

“We’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but we’ll come around.”

The Alternative Christmas Message, launched in 1993, is a long-running Channel 4 tradition meant to counter Britain’s royal address with voices outside the establishment.

Past speakers have included whistleblowers, activists and controversial political figures.

The Post has sought comment from the White House. Trump has yet to react to Kimmel’s address.