Jimmy Kimmel used a short return to the Oscars stage to launch a deliberate attack on First Lady Melania Trump’s widely panned documentary and on CBS’s recent editorial changes, offering some of the night’s most pointed political remarks at the 98th Academy Awards.
The 58-year-old late-night host and four-time Oscars presenter handed out the awards for Best Documentary Short Film and Best Documentary Feature at the Dolby Theater on March 15, 2026, using both moments to lampoon the Trump administration and the media outlets he says have caved to presidential influence.
“As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which,” Kimmel told the star-studded audience. “Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
The quip was aimed at CBS’s changes over the past year, including the July 2025 announcement that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” would end in May 2026. Paramount, CBS’s parent, also settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump for $16 million in July 2025 over a “60 Minutes” interview—a deal many legal analysts deemed unnecessary given the case’s perceived weakness.
Kimmel saved his harshest jabs for the first lady’s film “Melania,” which premiered at the Kennedy Center on January 29, 2025, and opened in theaters the next day. Directed by Brett Ratner, the movie has been savaged by critics and holds a 1.4 out of 10 score on IMDB—with the site flagging “unusual voting activity”—despite Amazon MGM Studios paying $40 million for it and spending another $35 million on promotion.
“Fortunately for all of us there’s an international community of filmmakers dedicated to telling the truth, oftentimes at great risk to make films that teach us, that call out injustice, that inspire us to take action,” Kimmel said. “And there are also documentaries where you walk around the White House trying on shoes.”
Before revealing the Best Documentary Feature winner, Kimmel added another barb: “Oh man, is he going to be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded on social media, calling Kimmel a “classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others.”
The film follows Melania Trump in the 20 days before President Trump’s return to office in January 2025 and has been criticized for prioritizing image and fashion over depth. On Rotten Tomatoes it set a record for the largest gap between critics’ scores (11%) and audience ratings (99%) in the site’s history. Kimmel has repeatedly called it a “vanity documentary” on his ABC program “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and questioned reports of a $7 million opening weekend take.
On his late-night show, Kimmel suggested the box-office numbers might have been inflated. The documentary opened on more than 1,500 screens but finished its theatrical run with only $16 million to $20 million, far short of its $75 million total cost.
The Sunday Oscars appearance was the latest episode in Kimmel’s ongoing feud with President Trump, which escalated after Trump’s second inauguration. In September 2025, ABC suspended Kimmel for six days over remarks he made about reactions to the assassination of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk. The suspension followed threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against ABC affiliates, though the show returned after broad pushback.
Kimmel and Trump had a notable clash during the 2024 Oscars, when Kimmel read a Truth Social post from Trump criticizing his hosting mid-ceremony. Kimmel shot back from the stage: “Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching. Isn’t it past your jail time?”
Conan O’Brien took over as Oscars host beginning in 2025 and returned for a second year in 2026.
Despite the promotion from President Trump calling it “a must watch” and a world premiere at the Kennedy Center, “Melania” lost money in theaters. Audience polling gave the film an “A” CinemaScore, a sharp contrast to critics, with Metacritic scoring it 5 out of 100 and describing the reaction as “overwhelming dislike.”
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week, Kimmel also mocked the way the film was marketed: “Between this and ‘Sinners,’ it’s been a big year for vampire movies,” he quipped.
The Oscars moment revived a familiar interplay between Hollywood and Trump-era politics at a ceremony increasingly used for cultural commentary. Kimmel’s remarks drew prolonged applause from the Dolby Theater audience, indicating his jabs landed with the entertainment industry’s largely liberal crowd.
