Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Donald Trump while presenting an award at the 2026 Oscars.
Kimmel kicked his rivalry with the US president back into gear when announcing the winner for Best Documentary Feature – poking fun at Melania Trump’s critically maligned documentary released earlier this year.
“Oh man, is he gonna be made his wife wasn’t nominated for this,” Kimmel said without specifically name-checking Trump.
Kimmel had earlier side-stepped mentioning Trump’s name while calling out “some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech”. He added: “I’m not at liberty to say which, but let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
Kimmel was referencing CBS’s cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, which was announced in 2025. The US network said it was a “financial decision”.
The late-night host regularly feuds with Trump, with the president branding Kimmel “the worst host” the Oscars has ever had.
In 2024, Kimmel read aloud a statement posted by Trump on his social media site Truth Social, in which the former US president attacked the presenter’s hosting abilities.
“Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump wrote. “His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be.” In response, Kimmel joked: “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
In September 2025, Trump gloated over the temporary suspension of Kimmel’s late-night show after the host’s comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The move arrived after Kimmel said on his show: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
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Donald Trump quickly took to social media to gloat over Kimmel’s situation, writing: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.”
More to follow
