Jimmy Kimmel Blasts Trump From UK, Where Free Speech No Longer Exists

www.zerohedge.com

On Christmas Day, Jimmy Kimmel delivered a four-minute “Alternative Christmas Message” on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4, during which he positioned himself as a beacon against authoritarianism while warning British viewers that "tyranny is booming" in the United States. 

Kimmel’s rant, which aired less than two hours after King Charles III's traditional, non-partisan Christmas speech, portrayed America's current political climate as a cautionary tale for democratic nations everywhere.

“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,” Kimmel told the UK audience. “Tyranny is booming over here. You may have read in your colorful newspapers, 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 continued, "The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden, we were off the air."

That isn’t what happened. 

ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September after Kimmel falsely claimed that Tyler Robinson, the man who allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk, was a MAGA supporter. 

“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 claimed.

Friends and family described Robinson as a radicalized leftist, and he also had a transgender roommate who is reportedly also his lover. 

“I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson told his lover in a text message. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Outrage over Kimmel’s remarks was significant, and local affiliates preempted the show amid backlash from conservative activists, advertisers, and station owners. His suspension had nothing to do with pressure from Trump or the federal government.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr debunked Kimmel's narrative directly. "Local TV stations said, 'I don't want to run this Kimmel stuff, and we're going to preempt it,'" Carr explained. "And that's a really important moment of local TV stations standing up for their viewers and pushing back against Comcast and Disney."

Kimmel referred to his reinstatement as a "September miracle," crediting the decision to "millions and millions of people" who objected to the suspension. "Because so many people spoke out, we came back," he said. He even presented his return to television as a personal and institutional victory over Trump’s efforts to muzzle criticism.

“And because so many people spoke out, we came back. Our show came back stronger than ever,” he claimed.

Stronger than ever? While he had an undeniable boost in ratings upon his return, his post-suspension ratings declined by 74% in mere days. Kimmel did recently sign a contract extension, but it was for one year, instead of the usual multi-year contract—a sign that ABC is merely postponing his inevitable cancellation and is merely hoping to minimize the fallout of doing so.

Despite this, Kimmel portrayed himself as the victor of a nonexistent battle with the government. “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.”

Kimmel warned British viewers not to assume that government efforts to silence critics only happen in distant authoritarian states. "And the reason I'm telling you this story is because maybe you're thinking: 'Oh, a government silencing its critics is something that happens in places like Russia, or North Korea, or LA, not the UK,'" he said. "Well, that's what we've got King Donny the Eighth calling for executions. It happens fast."

The irony was thick. While Kimmel portrayed the United States as an authoritarian country and the UK as a beacon of freedom, it’s actually the UK that has pursued aggressive speech restrictions that would shock most Americans. 

British authorities have arrested citizens for social media posts and even personal text messages. Roughly 30 people are arrested daily in the UK for posting “offensive” things online. Kimmel lectured about the dangers of government censorship to one of the West's most aggressive enforcers of speech codes, with police regularly investigating and prosecuting individuals for online commentary deemed offensive or threatening.

Kimmel's Christmas message painted a picture of American authoritarianism that exists primarily in his imagination. He transformed a corporate decision driven by advertiser pressure and affiliate rebellion into a grand narrative about government persecution, all while ignoring the actual threats to free expression happening in the UK.

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