Jimmy Kimmel says year was ‘great for fascism,’ scolds Donald Trump in Channel 4 Christmas message

American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has taken aim at Donald Trump in a brutal Christmas Day message, lamenting the “mess” the United States has become.

Kimmel was invited by British broadcast network Channel 4 to deliver its annual “alternative Christmas message”, and the late-night host revelled in the opportunity to warn UK viewers that “tyranny is booming” in the United States.

“From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” Kimmel said, before addressing the firestorm of his show’s suspension in the wake of his controversial comments about Mr Trump and Charlie Kirk.

“You may have read in your colourful newspapers that my country’s President would like me to shut up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored,” he said.

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

Describing the show’s September 23 return as a “September Christmas miracle”, Kimmel thanked the “millions and millions of people” who spoke out against the decision to pull him off the air.

“People who never watched my show, people who were on the record saying they hate my show, spoke out, they marched, and they did all of this to support the right to free expression of speech,” he added.

“Because so many people spoke out, we came back. Our show came back stronger than ever.”

Kimmel made it clear he has no intention of easing off the US President now that he has returned to television screens.

“We won, the President lost and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on Earth a right and richly deserved bollocking,” he said.

Kimmel told the British audience he was sharing the story to warn that Government censorship can happen anywhere, not just in countries like Russia or North Korea.

“That’s what we thought, and now we’ve got King Donny the Eighth calling for executions,” he joked.

The late night host went on to reflect on the irony of America’s founding ideals being undermined by a leader he said was behaving like a monarch.

“We Americans are very proud of not having a King. It’s kind of why we left,” he said, referencing the country’s break from British rule.

Kimmel jokingly stressed that his criticism was not aimed at Britain’s royal family.

“Just for the record, we have nothing against your King. I don’t know if you know this, but his son lives here,” he said.

“Some of us just have a problem with the guy who thinks he’s our King,” he added, before delivering a stark assessment of the state of American democracy.

“Here in the United States, 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.”

He closed the three-minute speech by urging the UK not to abandon faith in the US.

“We are not all like (Mr Trump), we are not all like that,” he said.

“Our message to you, our friends across the pond this Christmas is, don’t give up on us. We’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but we’ll come around.”

“We’re always just a little late to the game but do we come through in the end? Maybe. Give us about three years. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for Spider Man.”

Kimmel was pulled off screens for a week following controversial comments about Mr Trump and Kirk after the prominent MAGA figure was assassinated in Utah.

The network’s move fuelled debate over government pressure on media outlets and the boundaries of free expression.

At the time of the suspension, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to applaud the ABC for “finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

“Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” he added.