Late Night Hosts Struggle To Make Sense Of Texas School Shooting
26.05.2022 - 07:49
/ deadline.com
Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel taped a special segment alone onstage before the Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience was seated. In it, he struggled to address yesterday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas which took the lives of 19 children and 2 adults.
“Here we are again – on another day of mourning in this country,” Kimmel, whose youngest son is five, said and then paused to gather himself before continuing, “where once again, we grieve – for the babies – 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. They immediately criticize our President for even speaking about doing something to stop it. Because they don’t want to speak about it. Because they know what they’ve done. And they know what they haven’t done. And they know that it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep this under the rug.”
Kimmel soon shifted to one of his favorite sparring partners, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, but with a surprising amount of sympathy.
“And here’s the thing – I don’t believe Ted Cruz doesn’t care about children. I don’t. I refuse to believe he is unaffected by this. He’s a father. I bet he went to bed sick to his stomach last night. It’s easy to call someone a monster. But he’s not a monster – he is a human being. And some people might not like hearing me say that, but it’s true.
“So here’s the thing I would like to say to Ted Cruz, the human being, and Governor Abbot, and everyone: It’s OK to admit you made a mistake. In fact, it’s not just OK, it’s necessary to admit you made a mistake when your mistake is killing the children in your state.
“It takes a big person to do