Jack Whitehall has revealed he's been given a warning about making Donald Trump jokes, ahead of hosting The Brit Awards 2026 this evening. Back for his sixth year of presenting the annual gig, the 37-year-old will front the ceremony from Manchester for the first time in its history.

Known for his sharp wit and fearless humour, Jack has never shied away from courting controversy as the host - from jokes about P Diddy last year to sparking Ofcom complaints over another quip he made about Little Mix in 2019.

According to Jack, it's often American stars who take issue with his punchlines and this year a lawyer advised him that President Trump could be next. Asked whether he's ever offended anyone with his remarks, he said on The Heart Radio Breakfast Show: "Yeah, [it's] mainly the Americans.

• ‘I worked with Ant and Dec – they showed true colours with one act behind the scenes'


• Bob Mortimer acted as Jarvis Cocker's lawyer after Michael Jackson Brits stunt

"They get a whiff of their intros and what I'm going to say before I bring them out as presenters and they shoot everything down. There's been so many jokes, there's a graveyard of jokes for the introductions for Americans."

Jack claimed American musician Jared Leto was particularly unimpressed with his script and even had producers change it in advance. "He actually deleted his intro," he told hosts Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston.

"We found him at the autocue and he was deleting what I'd written in and was replacing it with some guff about him being the biggest rockstar on the planet," he added. To prevent further interference, Jack revealed he now prepares a decoy script for rehearsals.

"I do a fake script now in the rehearsals. They [ITV] check it, but they get a fake one in the rehearsal, and so I loosely read out compliments about everyone and they're like, 'Oh he's really changed his tune this year' and then on the night they get the actual script," he joked.

He went on to say he’s received "preventive warnings" about potential complaints this year, adding: "They got an email forwarded to me this week from the ITV lawyer saying, 'Just reminding you that Donald Trump is very litigious'."

While he was hoping to keep his gags under wraps ahead of the show, Jack revealed one had already been shut down by Harry Styles' team. Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, he revealed: "I had to send over a few ideas, because the first few I don't think were appropriate. There was one that was me, trekking for days to try and find him, and he'd been living in a hut, and he looked like Hagrid."

He went on to say: "Then it had me shaving him. It was maybe like a fantasy of mine, but that got a hard no from his team."

Harry is among this year’s performers at The BRITs, where he will perform music from his new album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. Other artists set to take the stage include Olivia Dean, Mark Ronson, and Raye.

The Brit Awards 2026 airs tonight at 8pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.