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Trump said to yell at Netanyahu: ‘You’re f**king crazy. You’d be in prison if not for me’

Jimmy Kimmel won a Peabody Award last night. And he used his acceptance speech to deliver one of the most gloriously defiant moments in the history of American comedy.

Standing alongside journalists who exposed Trump administration immigration horrors and prison abuse, a teacher who took on Putin, and documentarians covering Vietnam War protests, Kimmel opened with characteristic self-deprecation:

"I've never felt dumber than I do right now, being on stage with this group of people who expose the horrors of ICE, 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 Liger Woods and the Hungry Hungry Hypocrite. Our fondling father, Mara Lardo. Nelson Tandela. And Nostra Dumbass. And somehow we got a Peabody out of that."

But then Kimmel got serious — and the room got quiet.

"Making jokes about the president in America shouldn't win you a prize," he said. "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."

Trump's FCC chief, Brendan Carr, launched an investigation into Kimmel last year as part of the administration's broader campaign to weaponize federal regulators against media critics, leading ABC/Disney to cancel Kimmel’s program, albeit temporarily. But Kimmel said what happened next surprised him even more than the attack itself.

"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 refused to allow our freedoms to be bulldozed like the East Wing of the White House. You sent 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."

He closed with a list of thank-yous that will live forever: "Thank you to Donald Trump, our commander-in-thief, Abriscam Lincoln, Orange Julius Caesar, Greedy McGolfy, Dopey McGropy, and Pumpkin McPornhumper. Thank you for inspiring us to fight for our freedom of speech."

The First Amendment is not negotiable. And apparently, neither is Jimmy Kimmel.