Jimmy Kimmel has delivered a cutting Christmas Day monologue to viewers in the United Kingdom. On Dec. 25, the talk show host joined Channel 4 for its annual Alternative Christmas Message, using the platform to take aim at Donald Trump’s king-like behavior — including the public pressure from his administration that briefly forced Kimmel’s show off the air.
“I can tell you that, from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” Kimmel said, according to a transcript shared by Variety. “Tyranny is booming over here. You may have read in your colorful newspapers that my country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored.”
He continued, “The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden we were off the air. But then, you know what happened? A Christmas miracle happened. Well, it was September, it was a September miracle.”
Kimmel continued by explaining how millions of Americans spoke up to defend him and call out “King Donny the Eighth” for trying to punish a TV show that made jokes that were critical of the president’s actions.
“Our show came back stronger than ever. We won, the President lost, and now I’m back on the air every night, givin’ the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking,” he said. “That’s a word, right, I used it properly?”
Kimmel then referred to the No Kings protests across the country this past fall — adding a few royal family jokes in there, for good measure — saying that the United States is unfortunately “figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy,” and that it’s a struggle out here.
“From the free press, to science, to medicine, to judicial independence, to the actual White House itself, we are a right mess,” Kimmel said. “And we know this is also affecting you, and I just wanted to say sorry. And we want you to know or at least I want you to know, that we’re not all like him. We’re not all like that.”
After some Hamilton and Love Actually references, plus some more attempts at using British vernacular correctly, Kimmel continued by asking the British poeple: “Don’t give up on us.”
“We’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but we’ll come around. It may not seem like it, but we love you guys,” Kimmel said. “We even love the things about you that you don’t like, like Simon Cowell for instance. We are not bright. We’re Americans. No one knows better than you that we’re always just a little bit late to the game, but do we come through in the end? Maybe. Give us about three years. Please.”
