When comedian John Mulaney was co-invited to Jimmy Kimmel Live! Last week, he joked that, unlike the titular host, he wasn’t going to “ruin the show by suddenly crying at the monologue.”
It’s true that Jimmy Kimmel has developed a reputation for getting excited during what is supposed to be a comedy show. But it has always been for a good reason, either after his young son almost died or after horrific mass shootings in his hometown of Las Vegas and a high school in Parkland, Florida.
And as he said to an empty theater before his show began Wednesday night, “Here we are again on another day of mourning in this country.”
Tears welled up almost immediately when Kimmel spoke of “children whose lives have been ended and their families destroyed” after a teenage gunman fired on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
As Kimmel put it, “our right-wing leaders, the ‘Americans’ in Congress and Fox News and these other media outlets are warning us not to politicize it” because “they don’t want to talk about it, because they know what they’re doing.” I did. And they know what they haven’t done and they know it’s indefensible. So they would rather sweep this under the rug. “
The host spoke out in favor of “common sense weapons laws” that have not passed Congress over and over again. “But it doesn’t have to be that way, not because of that,” he said.
He specifically addressed Republican leaders in Texas such as Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn, who have pointed to everything but stricter gun regulations as a way to stop it.
“They don’t want to talk about it, because they know what they’ve done. And they know what they haven’t done and they know it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep that under the rug.”
“If your solution to the massacre of children is armed guards, you have not paid attention to what is happening,” Kimmel said. “There was an armed guard in Buffalo. There was an armed guard in Parkland. In Uvalde there was an armed guard. They had armed guards. There were armed police officers at the scene and these killings are still taking place.”
Addressing his longtime political nemesis, he said, “I don’t think Ted Cruz cares about children. I refuse to believe he’s not affected by that. He’s a father. “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’s a human being. And some people may not like to hear me say that, but it’s true.”
“That’s what I’d like to say to Ted Cruz, to the human being, to Governor Abbott, and to everyone else,” he continued. “It simply came to our notice then that we were wrong.
“It takes an older person to do something like that,” Kimmel added. “It takes a brave person to do something like that. And I think these men are brave people? No, I don’t. But man, I’d love to be surprised.”
Kimmel was even more excited when he noted that there have now been 27 school shootings so far this year in this country. “How does that make sense to anyone?” he asked. “It simply came to our notice then. And our representatives are supposed to represent us. “
And he didn’t just point his finger at the Republicans. “It’s not their fault anymore,” he said. “It is our fault now. Because we are angry, we demand action, we do not succeed, they are expected and we return to the lives to which we should be able to return.”
“But do you know who doesn’t forget?” he asked. “The parents of the children of Sandy Hook and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and now Robb Elementary School. They will not forget it.”
But if he expected his message to reach the Texan leaders, it would not be easy. After the show aired, Kimmel tweeted that the ABC affiliate in Dallas had cut his monologue. If the decision to censor his speech was intentional or unintentional, he swore, “I’ll find out.”