It was certainly a surprise to hear that Jimmy Kimmel would give the speech for the Alternative Christmas Message for Channel 4 in 2025. However, considering the year that he has had facing backlash from President Donald Trump and the threat to freedom of speech, it’s also not that surprising that Channel 4 would want him to do it.
The speeches in the past have included some great stars, with Stephen Fry giving the message in 2023 and Chris McCausland addressing the nation in 2024. It’s a chance to look back at the year, and we know based on UK’s Channel 4 that Kimmel is set to give a speech about how 2025 has been a “really great year” for facism.
That’s just part of it. The messages tend to last around five minutes, and that’s what we can expect with this one. It’s not a lot of time for Kimmel to delve into much, but it’s enough to get his message across.
What time will Jimmy Kimmel’s Alternative Christmas Message air?
The special is a UK program, and that means the time is in GMT. It will air at 5:45 p.m. GMT today, Christmas Day.
The UK currently sits five hours ahead of the East Coast and eight hours ahead of the West Coast, so you’ll be able to work out the time for your specific time zone from there. But here’s a rough breakdown:
Time Zone | Release Time |
|---|---|
Eastern Time | 12:45 p.m. |
Central Time | 11:45 a.m. |
Mountain Time | 10:45 a.m. |
Pacific Time | 9:45 a.m. |
This message is not designed to be something to completely replace the King’s Speech, which is why Channel 4 doesn’t put it on at the same time. It’s just more of a way to look at something very particular about the year.
How can you watch the Channel 4 message
What’s not clear is when the message will be placed on the Channel 4 YouTube channel. It’s probably not going to air live on YouTube, because Channel 4 will want people tuning in from their TVs so that they’ll watch the commercials either side of it.
So, we’ll probably have to wait a beat. The 2024 messages was uploaded on Dec. 25, 2024, so it would suggest that we’ll only need to wait a short time after the broadcast of it to catch it again. Of course, the timing isn’t available to know exactly when the video went up on YouTube.
YouTube is going to be the only legal way to watch the message. If you’re in the UK, you’ll be able to watch on Channel 4 and you’ll also be able to watch on the Channel 4 on-demand player.
The Alternative Christmas Message will air on Christmas Day at 5:45 p.m. GMT on Channel 4.