American comedian and television show host Jimmy Kimmel took a swing at US President Donald Trump in a special Christmas Day message for UK viewers.
Every year, British public broadcaster Channel 4 picks a renowned personality to deliver an alternative Christmas message to the British monarch's annual greeting, and this time, Kimmel was chosen to send the message.
In his message, the American comedian candidly said that he had "no idea" what was going on in the UK, but indirectly called out the Trump administration.
"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 joked in his alternative Christmas message for UK audiences.
"You may have read in your colourful 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," Kimmel said in his message, before opening up on the temporary halting of his show earlier this year.
"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 said without mincing words.
Recalling how "millions and millions of people" protested against his show being taken off air, Kimmel praised Americans for their efforts to "support the right to a free expression of speech".
"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. That’s a word, right – I used it properly?," said Kimmel as per a transcript of his message, using British slang.
Kimmel also warned that totalitarianism could be closer than one thinks, and it would be a mistake to think that silencing critics only happened in places like Russia or North Korea.
"Well, that’s what we thought, and now we’ve got King Donny the Eighth calling for executions. It happens fast," Kimmel said.
"Here in the United States right now, we are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy. From the free press, to science, to medicine, to judicial independence, to the actual White House itself, we are a right mess. 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," the comedian concluded in his message.
Kimmel's famed show Jimmy Kimmel Live! was stopped for a week in September after he accused MAGA supporters of exploiting the assassination of Charlie Kirk and joked about them trying to distance the shooter from their movement.
"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel had said at the time, sparking tremendous political backlash.
The comedian had also taken a dig at the Trump then, reacting to a clip of the US President transition from talking about the slain Kirk to boasting about the new White House ballroom.
"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish," Kimmel had said.
Although the comedian returned to his show a week later and apologized, saying it was never his intention to "make light of the murder", he maintained his criticism was aimed at political hypocrisy surrounding Kirk's assassination.