Jimmy Kimmel shared a nine-minute monologue on Wednesday nightâs show in which he addressed the elementary school shooting in Texas.
At the top of the monologue, which Kimmel noted was recorded without an audience, he noted the country had yet again been forced into another day of mourning, this time after multiple children were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde.
âWe grieve for the little boys and girls whose lives have been ended and whose families have been destroyed while our leaders on the right, the Americans in Congress and at Fox News and these other outlets warn us not to politicize this,â he said. âThey immediately criticize our president for even speaking about doing something to stop it because they donât wanna speak about it because they know what theyâve done and they know what they havenât done and they know that itâs indefensible. So theyâd rather sweep this under the rug.â
19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. The shooter was later identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. As Kimmel touched on in his monologue, the response from political leaders in the U.S. has largely gone as expected, with the host specifically calling out those who act under the influence of the NRA and others who âwrite them checks.â Texas leaders Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, and John Cornyn all received direct mentions.
Gov. Abbott, notably, signed a permitless carry bill into law just last year.
âHow does this make sense to anyone?â Kimmel said. âThese are our children. ⌠We want limits on who can walk around with an AR-15 and it damn well shouldnât be a teenager who works at a fast food restaurant.â
In a subsequent tweet, Kimmel addressed viewers in the Dallas area were given a truncated version of the monologue in their broadcast.
âI do not know whether our [ABC] affiliate [WFAA] cut away from my monologue tonight intentionally or inadvertently but I will find out,â he said.Â
Pete Freedman, the director of digital content at WFAA, later responded to Kimmelâs concerns, saying the network had âmade the decision earlier in the dayâ to extend a news broadcast to include additional coverage on the shooting. âWeâre on the same team,â Freedman said.
A report from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, meanwhile, included word from a source at WFAA stating âit wasnât just the monologueâ that received cuts. Per the report, a Seth MacFarlane interview was also relegated to what it described as âmangled segments.â
Other late-night hosts also addressed the Texas shooting on their shows this week, includingâas seen belowâStephen Colbert, James Corden, and Seth Meyers.