Kimmel Thanks 'Ridiculous' Trump at Critics Choice Awards, Calls Show Hiatus 'Near Death Experience'

After a tumultuous year for the veteran late-night host, that saw his show temporarily pulled from the air after what many critics have called political pressure from the FCC, Kimmel's comments about the experience came backstage at the CCAs after his win, per People.

He went on to make another comparison, saying that it also felt "a bit like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn watching their own funeral, when all this stuff happened."

"To be here and to see that people reacted to it in not just a positive way, but in almost a desperate way, we're like, 'Oh boy, when they come after the comedians, this is when we draw the line,'" Kimmel added. "We're very grateful that they drew the line at us."

On stage, Kimmel took aim directly at the president -- but not before getting in a pot-shot at his fellow nominees, The Daily Show, Hot Ones, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

"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 said of his absentee late-night brethren before going on to thank "all the writers and actors and producers and union members ... 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," he emphasized.

The comedian then went on to thank the president, saying, "Most of all, I wanna thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we would be going home empty-handed tonight."

"So thank you, Mr. President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day," he continued. "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."

While Donald Trump has been critical of all the late-night shows for being critical of him, he took particular issue with Kimmel's incessant attacks over the past decade or so, calling publicly via his Truth Social account for ABC to pull him off the air.

Things reached a free speech crescendo when FCC chair Brendan Carr said on a podcast in September 2025, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," calling on local affiliates to put pressure on ABC to pull Kimmel from the air in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. If they did not, he suggested "there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Within hours, both Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group, two of the largest ABC affiliate owners -- who perhaps coincidentally both had large deals pending FCC and/or antitrust approval -- declared they would stop airing Kimmel on their local stations indefinitely.

ABC responded by pulling the plug on late-night's longest-running current host, though Jimmy Kimmel Live! would ultimately only stay dark for six days.

The Kimmel move came within two months of CBS making the decision to cancel top-rated The Late Show with Stephen Colbert -- with its host also a prominent critic of the president -- shortly before the FCC approved a sale of parent company Paramount to Skydance. CBS denied the merger had anything to do with the cancellation, calling it a "purely financial decision," per NPR.

Just a few months after he was pulled from the air, Kimmel, who has hinted at retirement for years, reportedly renewed his contract with ABC for another year, taking him through May 2027, with Deadline noting this may be his last hurrah for real. As for Colbert, his future is less clear after his contract ends in May of this year, though he has indicated he hopes to continue making content in some form.