Jimmy Kimmel, the American late night host, appeared on British television screens on Christmas Day to deliver a so-called “alternative Christmas message,” in which he said tyranny was “booming” in the United States.
Mr. Kimmel was asked to give the speech on the public broadcaster Channel 4, which each year chooses a different high-profile and sometimes controversial figure to provide a counterpoint to the monarch’s annual televised address. In a statement, Channel 4 said Mr. Kimmel had “found himself on the front line of America’s battle over free speech.”
Previous speakers have included the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence contractor who disclosed mass surveillance techniques to news organizations.
Mr. Kimmel joked that he knew little of the tradition, adding: “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. Tyranny is booming over here.”
In September, ABC briefly suspended Mr. Kimmel’s show after comments he made about the man accused of fatally shooting the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In the speech on Thursday, Mr. Kimmel said President Trump wanted to “shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored,” adding that the ensuing backlash had forced executives to reinstate the show days later.
Thanking the people who joined protests and posted online to support him, Mr. Kimmel said, “We won, the president lost and now I’m back on the air every night.”
Mr. Kimmel referred to the president as “King Donny the Eighth” and “the guy who thinks he is our king,” accusing the Trump administration of “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 added. He apologized to British viewers for any effects on their country and urged them, “Don’t give up on us.”
Mr. Kimmel said the United States was “going through a bit of a wobble” but would come around in time, urging Britain to “give us about three years,” an apparent reference to the 2028 presidential election.
“I want you to know that we’re not all like him, we’re not all like that,” Mr. Kimmel said. “It may not seem like it, but we love you guys.”
Mr. Kimmel’s speech was broadcast about three hours after King Charles III’s annual address, which urged “compassion and reconciliation” over division.
The king celebrated the “great diversity” of Britain and spoke warmly of meeting people of non-Christian faiths, weeks after the Trump administration claimed Europe was facing the “stark prospect of civilizational erasure” because of immigration.
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