ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel told British viewers on Thursday that “tyranny is booming” under President Donald Trump’s leadership in the United States.
Kimmel gave a four-minute speech to Britain’s Channel 4, a public broadcast network that traditionally picks a high-profile person to counter the monarch’s Christmas message, where he stated that fascism has flourished in the U.S. The late-night host blamed Trump for his three-day suspension for making false claims about the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“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,” Kimmel said. “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.”
“The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for and all of a sudden we’re off the air,” Kimmel continued.
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ABC temporarily suspended his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” on Sept. 17 after Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting announced they would not air his show over his remarks about Kirk. Kimmel stated during a Sept. 15 episode that Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was a Trump supporter and that Trump responded to the assassination in the same manner that a child mourns a goldfish.
Kimmel said that his suspension happened because Trump is silencing speech, despite there being no evidence that Trump had any involvement. He accused his administration of “figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy.”
“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 VIII calling for executions. It happens fast,” Kimmel said.
“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,” Kimmel added.
Kimmel also apologized to British viewers and assured them that not all Americans are like Trump. He urged the nation to give the U.S. three years to turn things around, which was an apparent reference to the 2028 presidential election.
British citizens have been censored and arrested for speech and public prayer in recent years. Police in the United Kingdom have made over 30 arrests per day over offensive online posts, The Telegraph reported in September. More than a dozen British citizens were jailed in August 2024 for allegedly causing “unrest” on social media, while two citizens were sentenced to over a year in prison for stirring up “racial hatred” online, the BBC reported.
Authorities also arrested a British army veteran in August 2022 for denouncing LGBTQ and transgender activists online, which authorities said caused someone “anxiety.”
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