Jimmy Kimmel did not mince words while accepting the trophy for Best Talk Show for Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.
“We share this award with our colleagues in late night, our fellow nominees who did not care enough to be here with you tonight,” Kimmel, 58, quipped during his speech at the Sunday, January 4, awards show, which was held at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, California. “Thanks to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room who supported us, who really stepped forward with us and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country. Your actions were important and we appreciate them.”
Kimmel continued by thanking President Donald Trump, “without whom we would be going home empty-handed tonight,” referring to the 2025 scandal surrounding his late night show.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day,” Kimmel concluded. “It’s been a banner couple of weeks, and we can’t wait to get back on the air tomorrow night to talk about them.”
Kimmel’s eponymous talk show was briefly pulled off the air in September 2025 after the TV host received backlash following his comments about the murder of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk, who was shot to death that same month while speaking at Utah Valley University.
“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 said during his show, also mocking how Trump, 79, reacted to the murder.
ABC made the decision to pull Kimmel’s show after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission publicly threatened the network, parent company Disney and the host himself. Trump also took to social media to praise the decision, congratulating ABC for having the “courage” to take Kimmel off the air.
After six days, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned. During his first monologue back, Kimmel praised his supporters, as he did during Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards. (Kimmel’s show also took a brief break in November 2025 after his longtime friend and Jimmy Kimmel Live! bandleader Cleto Escobedo III died unexpectedly at age 59.)
“It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days,” Kimmel said in September 2025. “I’ve heard from all the people in the last six days. Everyone I have ever known has reached out 10 or 11 times. Characters from my past, the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle — where we are not airing tonight, by the way — his name is Larry.”
He added, “You supported our show, cared enough to do something about it to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard, and I will never forget it. It takes courage to speak out against this administration, and they did and they deserve credit for it and thanks, for telling their followers that our government cannot control what we do and do not say on TV.”