Jimmy Kimmel Thanks Trump After Winning Critics Choice Award In A Roast For The Ages

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel mockingly thanked President Donald Trump when he took home the Critics Choice Award on Sunday for Best Talk Show, suggesting Trump helped him win the honor in part because of 'all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day."

Kimmel's remarks were considerably pointed considering the role Trump played in pulling Kimmel off the air this past autumn.

In September, ABC announced it would end its suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! just a week after Trump pushed to get Kimmel off the air following comments Kimmel made about the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. ABC had had internal discussions with Disney, which saw a wave of subscriber cancellations in the wake of Kimmel's suspension.

When Kimmel returned, he called out the government interference that led to his suspension, saying that Trump "celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke" and is now "openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows who don’t make millions of dollars.”

With all this in mind, Kimmel took the stage and said:

"I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we would 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."

You can hear what Kimmel said in the video below.

People immediately got what Kimmel was putting down—and joined him in mocking Trump themselves.

Kimmel's brief suspension this past fall was widely condemned by media watchdog groups and organizations dedicated to safeguarding First Amendment rights as government censorship that flew in the face of the first amendment.

Kimmel went on to thank "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 and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country."