Late-night television has never been known as a place where the meek inherit the earth, and Jimmy Kimmel has made a career out of being one of the most clever and bold late-night hosts out there. Most recently, Kimmel held nothing back when he presented the Best Documentary Feature award at the 2026 Oscars, which went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin.
While presenting the Best Documentary Feature award, he revived his long-running feud with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, by making jokes about Melania Trump‘s documentary that came out earlier this year and failed to impress critics.
“Oh man, is he going to be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this?” Jimmy made the joke, though he never mentioned the President’s name. Earlier this year, a documentary about the First Lady came out in January. While the film initially failed to impress at the box office, it earned about $7 million in its opening weekend, more than anyone had initially predicted.
Jimmy Kimmel takes swipe at Donald Trump at the #Oscars: “Oh man, is he going to be mad that his wife wasn’t nominated for this” pic.twitter.com/h3WUfWAFy7
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 16, 2026
Although Conan O’Brien returned as the host for 2026, Kimmel’s role presenting the documentary award felt similar to his previous hosting style. He adopted a tone similar to his usual political commentary and gave a speech that made fun of Melania Trump and her $75 million documentary. Memes and reactions to Kimmel’s monologue-heavy segment circulated on social media, which was a mix of comedy, satire, and commentary.
Kimmel also discussed the box office response that the film received in another segment of his show. He said, “Speaking of rigged outcomes, the Melania documentary. A lot of people, myself included, have been wondering how this movie managed to sell $7 million worth of tickets last weekend when almost every theater seemed to be empty leading up to the release.”
Earlier, the television host avoided directly naming Trump while speaking about “some countries whose leaders do not support free speech.” He added, “I am not at liberty to say which, but let us just leave it at North Korea and CBS.” Kimmel’s remark referred to CBS’s cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a decision that was announced in 2025.
The network said the cancellation was made for financial reasons. The late-night comedian frequently engages in public disputes with Donald Trump, who has described Kimmel as “the worst host” the Oscars has ever had. In 2024, Kimmel read a statement aloud that Trump had posted on his social media platform Truth Social, in which the United States president criticized the presenter’s hosting abilities.
— Harish Chandra (@HarishChan20246) March 16, 2026
In a message shared on social media, Donald Trump criticized Jimmy Kimmel and portrayed his Oscars hosting performance as weak and overly eager. Kimmel fired back with a quick remark that mocked the idea that Trump should have been focused on serving time in jail, saying, “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
In September 2025, Donald Trump celebrated the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night program after Kimmel discussed the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Donald Trump responded online by boasting that the low-rated show had been cancelled.
