Jimmy Kimmel Rightly Used Peabody Award Speech To Mock the President

As a chubby kid with big glasses, bad skin, and a penchant for acting silly, I was a prime target of bullies for much of my youth. Even if I didn’t realize it in the moment, people would have a great time at my expense, and, for a long time, I would just kind of laugh with them, thinking that it was my only option. Surely, I didn’t want to sink to their level just because they were hurting my feelings, ruining my days, and making me dread going to certain classes. Then, I met my friend Rich.

Rich was tall, handsome, funny, and smart, and yet he would slum it with a second-class citizen like me. We bonded over Star Wars, but even more so over comedy. Rich wasn’t unique. He would still make fun of me, but he encouraged me to get him back. He knew that we liked the same comedies, and had heard me be funny as well, and basically told me to use that to my advantage, not just with him, but against people who were actually trying to hurt me.

Unfortunately, Rich and I would grow apart, as I would learn that I don’t want friends who make fun of me, even if it’s mostly good-natured. Still, his lesson would stay with me forever. You have to push back against bullies and, if you can, give them a taste of their own medicine. They can’t stand it, and it will make them more afraid of you than anything else. That’s what’s happened, and continues to happen, with Jimmy Kimmel, who accepted a Peabody Award this weekend.

While accepting the award, he lamented the reason he was given it, saying, “making jokes about the President - in America - shouldn’t win you a prize. We have the right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to criticize and satirize our leaders. That is a right I took for granted, for the first 57 years of my life, until last September, when the FCC delivered an unpleasant surprise.” He’s referencing, of course, the President getting Kimmel pulled off air last fall, something that has, ironically enough, only made Kimmel stronger.

He went on to explain how surprised he was by the outpouring of support he received at the time. People rallied around him on both sides of the aisle, and that is important to point out. It’s also important to note that he will not hold back. Kimmel even thanked the President in his speech, and rattled off some of his favorite nicknames for him, including “Abrascam Lincoln, Orange Julius Caesar, Greedy McGolfy, Dopey McGropey, and Pumpkin McPornhumper,” according to Variety.

Not everyone is going to have someone in their lives who encourages them to stand up to their bullies, but maybe if folks see Kimmel doing so on such a grand scale, that mentality will spread. More people will stand up for themselves, and the bullies will have a harder time finding targets. A man can dream.