{"id":679264,"date":"2026-01-07T05:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679264\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T05:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:42:17","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-roasts-donald-trump-over-kennedy-center-ratings-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679264\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel roasts Donald Trump over Kennedy Center ratings flop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> returned to late-night on Monday after a holiday break and didn\u2019t waste a second taking aim at Donald Trump<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The host opened 2026\u2019s first Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue by ribbing the President over the historically low ratings for his Kennedy Center Honors broadcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘You know he hosted an awards show over the break,’ Kimmel said. ‘After boasting about what a great host he is and how much better he is than I am and how huge his ratings would be, Trump hosted the lowest rated Kennedy Center Honors telecast of all time.’<\/p>\n

According to Nielsen Live, the December 7 event averaged just 3.01 million viewers –\u00a0 a 25% drop from 2024\u2019s already record-low 4.1 million.<\/p>\n

‘Boy, I\u2019d hate to be the White House<\/a> intern who had to tear that headline out of all the papers and eat ’em,’ Kimmel joked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You know, as I recall<\/a>, he said he\u2019d step down if this happened. He said, “If I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel, then I don\u2019t think I should be president.” Hey, a deal is a deal. Back to Mar-a-Lago you go.’<\/p>\n

\"Jimmy <\/p>\n

Jimmy Kimmelreturned to late-night on Monday after a break and didn\u2019t waste a second taking aim at Donald Trump; (pictured December)<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The host opened 2026\u2019s first Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue by ribbing the former president over the historically low ratings for his Kennedy Center Honors broadcast<\/p>\n

Last month, Trump had confidently brushed off concerns about the broadcast.<\/p>\n

He told reporters: \u2018We have never had a president hosting the awards before. This is the first. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll give me great reviews, right? You know, they\u2019ll say he was horrible. He was terrible. It was a horrible situation. No, we\u2019ll do fine.’<\/p>\n

He went on to add: \u2018I\u2019ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people. If I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don\u2019t think I should be president.’<\/p>\n

Trump became the first sitting president to host the Kennedy Center Honors, which celebrate \u2018individuals whose unique contributions have shaped our world.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2025 honourees included George Strait, Sylvester Stallone, KISS, Michael Crawford and Gloria Gaynor.<\/p>\n

During his second term, Trump has developed a fixation with the Kennedy Center, even renaming the venue in December \u2018The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts\u2019.<\/p>\n

The move sparked backlash and led several scheduled performers to pull out in protest.<\/p>\n

Just days earlier, Kimmel had also taken aim at Trump while underscoring the importance of free speech as he accepted the award for Best Talk Show at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.<\/p>\n

\"'You <\/p>\n

‘You know he hosted an awards show over the break,’ Kimmel said. ‘After boasting about what a great host he is and how much better he is than I am and how huge his ratings would be, Trump hosted the lowest rated Kennedy Center Honors telecast of all time’<\/p>\n

\"'You <\/p>\n

‘You know, as I recall, he said he\u2019d step down if this happened, he said, “If I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel, then I don\u2019t think I should be president.” Hey, a deal is a deal. Back to Mar-a-Lago you go’ Kimmel stated<\/p>\n

The late-night host\u2019s program had been controversially suspended last year following remarks he made during a monologue about the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk – a brief hiatus that was publicly applauded by Trump, a frequent target of Kimmel\u2019s jokes.<\/p>\n

Although the suspension was lifted less than a week later, it reignited broader concerns over the state of free expression in the US –\u00a0 an issue Kimmel addressed directly while onstage Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thanks to all the writers and actors and producers and union members. Many of you were 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,\u2019 Kimmel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Your actions are important, and we appreciate them.\u2019<\/p>\n

He then turned his attention squarely back to the Commander-in-Chief.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we\u2019d be going home empty-handed tonight,\u2019 Kimmel quipped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018So thank you, Mr President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kimmel has long made Trump and his administration a central focus of his satire –\u00a0 a rivalry that ultimately contributed to his show being temporarily pulled off the air by ABC\u2019s parent company.<\/p>\n

\"'Boy, <\/p>\n

‘Boy, I\u2019d hate to be the White Houseintern who had to tear that headline out of all the papers and eat ’em,’ Kimmel joked about the low ratings<\/p>\n

\u00a0The suspension followed Kirk\u2019s assassination in September 2025, after Kimmel delivered a fiery monologue accusing the \u2018MAGA gang\u2019 of \u2018desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them\u2019 while \u2018working very hard to capitalize on the murder.\u2019<\/p>\n

He also compared Trump\u2019s response to that of \u2018a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kirk, 31, was killed on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University, with 22-year-old Tyler Robinson later charged in connection with the shooting.<\/p>\n

In the fallout, Disney-owned ABC removed Kimmel from the air, while FCC chairman Brendan Carr warned the network its broadcast licence could be at risk – remarks that Trump echoed when he suggested networks offering him negative coverage \u2018maybe their licence should be taken away.\u2019<\/p>\n

The episode sparked widespread backlash and protests, with critics accusing the White House of encroaching on free speech and press freedoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night on Monday after a holiday break and didn\u2019t waste a second taking aim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[92,77,38513,382,813,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-679264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-tvshowbiz","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115852223905608438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}