Jimmy Kimmel Thanks Trump, OpenAI at 2026 Critics Choice Awards

Jimmy Kimmel stated he was shocked to win greatest speak sequence on the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, however he nonetheless got here outfitted with a lot of sharp barbs and a comically lengthy written acceptance speech, which he unrolled onstage.

Kimmel quipped that he would have most well-liked a “FIFA peace prize,” referring to the award President Donald Trump acquired on the now-renamed Kennedy Center throughout the World Cup draw final month.

After that, Kimmel unrolled a comedically lengthy written acceptance speech as he stated he “really didn’t expect this,” and thanked the critics, calling out three particular reviewers by identify, together with Jeffrey Howard from KCLV-TV in Las Vegas, whom Kimmel, a Sin City native, stated he went to highschool with.

He went on to thank “our friends at Disney,” naming CEO Bob Iger, leisure co-chairman Dana Walden and even OpenAI boss Sam Altman, who, Kimmel stated, “who now owns my voice and face. Please don’t do anything weird with it.”

Kimmel’s remarks about Altman seem like a reference to Disney’s latest $1 billion funding in OpenAI that included placing a licensing cope with the Altman-run AI powerhouse. The latter settlement would enable customers of OpenAI’s Sora to create clips utilizing characters from the Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars franchises.

Kimmel was nominated alongside his late night time rivals The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Daily Show and Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in addition to YouTube’s Hot Ones. Kimmel joked that his fellow nominees, save Hot Ones‘ Sean Evans, who was shown onscreen laughing at Kimmel’s acceptance speech, “did not care enough to be here with you tonight.”

Of Evans, Kimmel joked that in the future he’d be “the only one left.” Questions have emerged in latest months about the way forward for late night time TV after CBS canceled The Late Show for what the community claimed had been monetary causes. Meanwhile, Trump has gone after Colbert, Kimmel and Meyers, saying all of them ought to be taken off the air.

Kimmel’s win comes after ABC briefly suspended him this fall following feedback he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer that led Trump’s FCC chair to threaten ABC associates’ licenses.

Since returning to the air, Kimmel and spouse and co-head author Molly McNearney, who joined Kimmel onstage Sunday night time, have spoken out in assist of free speech, and Kimmel took time on Sunday night time to handle the problem and Trump.

“Thanks to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room, who supported us, who really stepped forward us and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country,” Kimmel stated. “Your actions were important, and we appreciate them.”

He later added, “Most of all I wanna thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom, we’d be going home empty-handed tonight. So thank you, Mr. President for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day. 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.”