Kimmel Claims 'This Country Really Has Gone To S***' During Peabody Acceptance Speech

Alex Christy
June 2nd, 2026 12:31 PM

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ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel accepted his Peabody Award on Sunday with a speech that highlighted how he and the Peabody jurors still have no idea why he was suspended in September, but he nevertheless cited his suspension as proof America has “gone to shit” under President Trump.

Kimmel began his acceptance speech by rattling off a bunch of his nicknames for Trump and unintentionally highlighting how the Peabody Awards are, for the most part, just another example of liberals patting other liberals on the back:

I have to say I've felt pretty dumb a lot of times in my life, but I've never felt dumber than I do right now being on stage with this group of people who exposed the horrors of ICE, and prison abuse, and protests against the Vietnam War, a teacher who took on Putin. I called our president Fatty Shack. And Blob the Builder. And Lieger Woods, and the Hungry Hungry Hypocrite. Our fondling father, Mar-a-Lardo, Nelson Tandela. And Nostradumbass and somehow we got a Peabody out of that.

 

 

Kimmel then claimed, “I mean—if you didn't know it from reading the news already, this country really has gone to shit. Making jokes about the president in America shouldn't win you a prize. We have the right guaranteed by the Constitution to criticize and satirize our leaders. This is a right that many of us take for granted. It's one that I took for granted for the first 57 years of my life until September of last year when the FCC delivered a very unpleasant surprise.”

The good news for Kimmel is that he wasn’t given the award for telling jokes about Trump. He was given the award for getting himself suspended. However, Kimmel got the reason for his suspension all wrong as he continued, “Then I experienced something that surprised me even more. I watched as millions of people, even some from across the aisle, objected. They spoke up, they marched, they canceled their subscriptions to Star Wars because they refuse to allow our freedoms to be bulldozed like the East Wing of the White House. They send a message, you send a message that we do care and that we will stand up and that we will not stand by when comedy and journalism and dissent are censored.”

Kimmel was suspended not for a joke about Trump, but for a straight-up statement condemning conservatives for insisting that Charlie Kirk’s assassin wasn’t a right-winger because left-wing sections of the internet were running wild with conspiracy theories that he was. Kimmel, who claims everything he says goes through a rigorous fact-checking process, didn’t mention that. There was no satire, no punchline, or anything that could resemble a joke. There wasn't even anything related to Trump. Furthermore, Kimmel’s ABC bosses suspended him because he did not believe he did anything wrong, so his initial instinct was to go back on the air and enflame an already volatile situation by attacking his critics.

As it was, Kimmel concluded his speech with more Trump nicknames, “I'm honored to stand alongside you on behalf of my coworkers. We thank you. We thank those who supported us during—last year in September. Thank you to the Peabody jurors for this adorable little trophy and thank you to Donald Trump, our, our commander-in-thief. Abrahascam Lincoln. Orange Julius Caesar, Greedy McGolfy, Dopey McGropy, and Pumpkin McPorn Humper, thank you for inspiring us to fight for our freedom of speech.”

The unexciting truth is that Kimmel was suspended as a consequence for his own actions, but the truth would make it harder for Kimmel to portray himself as a free speech martyr.

Here is a transcript of Kimmel’s May 31 speech:

Peabody Awards

5/31/2026

JIMMY KIMMEL: I have to say I've felt pretty dumb a lot of times in my life, but I've never felt dumber than I do right now being on stage with this group of people who exposed the horrors of ICE, and prison abuse, and protests against the Vietnam War, a teacher who took on Putin. I called our president Fatty Shack. And Blob the Builder. And Lieger Woods, and the Hungry Hungry Hypocrite. Our fondling father, Mar-a-Lardo, Nelson Tandela. And Nostradumbass and somehow we got a Peabody out of that.

I mean—if you didn't know it from reading the news already, this country really has gone to shit. 

Making jokes about the president in America shouldn't win you a prize. We have the right guaranteed by the Constitution to criticize and satirize our leaders. This is a right that many of us take for granted. It's one that I took for granted for the first 57 years of my life until September of last year when the FCC delivered a very unpleasant surprise, but then I experienced something that surprised me even more.

I watched as millions of people, even some from across the aisle, objected. They spoke up, they marched, they canceled their subscriptions to Star Wars because they refuse to allow our freedoms to be bulldozed like the East Wing of the White House. They send a message, you send a message that we do care and that we will stand up and that we will not stand by when comedy and journalism and dissent are censored and regulated and criminalized right, Guillermo?

GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ: Right, Jimmy,

KIMMEL: Thank you. Thank you for always having my back. Guillermo said, please make it fast. I have to pee. That is not the Peabody we are honoring here tonight. Go ahead. You can go. You can go, yeah, congratulations to my fellow Peabody Award recipients, all of you here on stage, all of you here in the audience.

I'm honored to stand alongside you on behalf of my coworkers. We thank you. We thank those who supported us during—last year in September. Thank you to the Peabody jurors for this adorable little trophy and thank you to Donald Trump, our, our commander-in-thief. Abrahascam Lincoln. Orange Julius Caesar, Greedy McGolfy, Dopey McGropy, and Pumpkin McPorn Humper, thank you for inspiring us to fight for our freedom of speech.

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