Jimmy Kimmel used his short comeback to the Oscars stage to launch a pointed attack on both First Lady Melania Trump’s much-maligned documentary and CBS’s recent editorial changes, offering some of the evening’s most biting political remarks at the 98th Academy Awards.
The 58-year-old late-night host and four-time Oscars emcee handed out the awards for Best Documentary Short Film and Best Documentary Feature at the Dolby Theater on March 15, 2026, taking both moments to criticize the Trump administration and media outlets he accuses of yielding 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 remark targeted CBS’s shift 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 company, also settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump for $16 million in July 2025 over a “60 Minutes” interview—a settlement many legal observers saw as unnecessary given questions about the suit’s merits.
But Kimmel saved his sharpest barbs for the first lady’s documentary “Melania,” which debuted at the Kennedy Center on January 29, 2025, and opened in theaters on January 30, 2025. Directed by Brett Ratner, the film was savaged by critics and holds a 1.4 out of 10 on IMDB—where the site reported “unusual voting activity”—despite Amazon MGM Studios paying $40 million for distribution rights and spending an additional $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 quip: “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, labeling Kimmel a “classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others.”
The film follows Melania Trump during the 20 days leading up to President Trump’s return to office in January 2025 and has faced ongoing criticism for emphasizing image and fashion over substance. On Rotten Tomatoes, it set a record for the biggest gap between critics’ scores (11%) and audience ratings (99%) in the site’s history. Kimmel has repeatedly called the project a “vanity documentary” on his ABC program “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and questioned its reported $7 million opening weekend box office.
On his late-night show, Kimmel suggested the movie’s revenue numbers might have been artificially inflated. Although the documentary opened on over 1,500 screens, it finished its theatrical run having earned only $16 million to $20 million—a small portion of its $75 million total cost.
The Sunday appearance was the latest episode in Kimmel’s continuing feud with President Trump, a conflict that escalated after Trump’s second inauguration. In September 2025, ABC suspended Kimmel for six days over remarks about the reaction to the assassination of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk. The suspension followed threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against ABC affiliates, though Kimmel’s show returned after a public backlash.
Kimmel’s tension with Trump produced a notable moment at the 2024 Oscars when he read a Truth Social post from Trump attacking his hosting during the ceremony. Kimmel fired 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 starting in 2025 and returned for a second year in 2026.
Even though President Trump promoted the documentary as “a must watch” and it premiered at the Kennedy Center, “Melania” lost money in theaters. Audiences polled in cinemas gave it an “A” CinemaScore, a sharp contrast to critics: Metacritic assigned a 5 out of 100, summarizing the reaction as “overwhelming dislike.”
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week, the host also poked fun at how the documentary was framed. “Between this and ‘Sinners,’ it’s been a big year for vampire movies,” he quipped.
The Oscars moment highlighted the ongoing interplay between Hollywood and Trump-era politics at an event increasingly used for pointed cultural statements. Kimmel’s segment drew sustained applause from the Dolby Theater audience, indicating his jabs found favor with the entertainment community’s largely liberal crowd.
