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“This is not a time for moments of silence,” a deeply affected Jimmy Kimmel said at the opening of his late-night show Wednesday, the first taped after news of the Uvalde elementary school massacre became public. “This is a time to be loud, and to stay loud, and not stop until we fix this.”
In a nearly nine-minute monologue filmed when Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘s in-studio audience was not present, the host begged elected officials to enact gun safety legislation in an effort to end mass killings.
His impassioned comments came in the wake of an attack that took the lives of 19 children and two adults Tuesday when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The 18-year-old suspect also was killed. The tragedy marked the deadliest American school shooting since the murders at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary nearly 10 years ago.
At several points in the monologue, Kimmel was on the verge of tears and had to pause to collect himself.
“There have been 27 school shootings so far this year in this country — and it’s May,” he said. “How does this make sense to anyone? These are our children, and our representatives are supposed to represent us. We want limits on who could walk around with an AR-15, and it damn well shouldn’t be a teenager who works at a fast-food restaurant. If we can’t agree on that, forget it.”
Kimmel also directly addressed Texas politicians Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott, telling them: “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 something like that. It takes a brave person to do something like that. And do I think these men are brave people? No, I don’t, but and I would love it if they surprise me.”
He later added asked his audience to help him hold lawmakers accountable. “You make sure that unless they do something drastic, let’s make sure that not one of any of these politicians ever holds office again.”
Press PLAY on the video above to watch Kimmel’s emotional monologue, then hit the comments with your thoughts.
I’ve never been a fan of JK but I watched this, and with all the latest horrific inaction reports coming out, I was angry, I cried, and I don’t cry. I’m sick. This makes me sick. When did we lose our humanity? When? Rhetorical because I have a good idea. How do you let this shooter in the school? Cops engaged and were “overpowered?” He crashed his truck. Took off on foot. Knew the back door was unlocked. Was ignored by cops and an armed guard. THEY LEFT HIM IN THAT BUILDING FOR ALMOST 90 MINUTES BEFORE THEY DID ANYTHING!!! What the actual FFFFFFFF. Trained officers were in fear of their own lives and let those poor kids…GD. I’m so disgusted right now. The right saying don’t politicize when they are literally campaigning FOR more guns using this horrific tragedy. I can’t. I’m done. I’m literally done. He is right, Jimmy K, if we can’t agree as a people THIS IS WRONG, we have zero hope of ever coming together again. End the American experiment. Let the red states secede and form Gilead. Let the blue do their own thing. We will never co-exist again if we can’t all say this BS shouldn’t be our reality. Regulate my womb but not guns??? Why? Need more dead kids so gun stocks go up and you make more money lobbying for more guns? Efffing sick people. Sick.
For all the joking Jimmy Kimmel does, when there is a tragedy like this I am always so amazed how he finds the right words and sentiment and appropriate anger and lets his emotions show. The first one I remember was the mass shooting in Las Vegas at the country music concert. Sadly he had to do this too many times
it’s a SCRIPT ! It’s not him, he’s reading what his writers gave him
Are you serious? Do you really think that JK is incapable of speaking his mind about this tragedy and getting emotional about this topic as a father of 2 young children. It may be in the teleprompter but I guarantee you those are his feelings. He’s a talk show host, not an actor. He was really upset.
I agree with you 100%
@MMD – THANK YOU!!!
@POPSIes – Script writers or not, those were HIS feelings and emotions. Kimmel is impassioned especially where children are involved. The lives of children trump everything else! Remember when his newborn son needed surgery and republicans were trying to take down ObamaCare? He was just as impassioned then as he was last night.
Our country is so broken. It’s so sad.
It really is on so many fronts and watching from the outside, I hurt for you and your fellow citizens. America used to be so greatly respected, now not so much.
It really is. Apparently even the deaths of children just aren’t enough to move people to act anymore. I saw a headline earlier stating that the GOP, yet again, blocked an attempt to try and pass gun reform.
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There’s absolutely no justifiable reason to support the GOP anymore (hasn’t been for quite some time, really). It’s beyond clear they have absolutely no interest in actually doing anything to help people in this country, or in working with the Democrats to make the necessary change we need on this issue. Kimmel’s right. They all need to lose their jobs as soon as humanly possible. What’s more, they should never get an opportunity to hold a political office of any kind ever again.
Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the US and it’s the murder capitol. Gun laws do need revision, but so does parenting and mental health monitoring. Too many young people lack empathy and filters.
I dunno, I’m seeing a hell of a lot of lack of empathy from GOP politicians in the wake of this tragedy, and the vast majority of them are not exactly what I’d call “young”. And we’ve also had plenty of mass shooters who were middle-aged. But sure, let’s make this a generational thing.
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Besides that, other countries have people with mental health issues, and crappy parenting. Still don’t have anywhere near the amount of mass shootings we do. And those with mental health issues are, by and large, often less violent, not more.
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It’s the guns. Full stop. Chicago can have all the strict gun laws it wants, but if the areas around them have much more lax gun laws, that makes it harder for them to enforce theirs. Hence why we need to revise our laws and make them uniform and as strict as possible across the entire country.
I don’t believe Federal Laws will make any difference. It would require house to house searches to even guess how many guns are out there and that smell like Big Brother. Just as drug legislation doesn’t stop deaths from overdoses or fentanyl poisoning, illegal guns will flood the market. I do wonder why there aren’t strict laws on ammunition. We are heading toward a world that feels like the movie Minority Report.
It falls on deaf ears unfortunately. No matter who we vote into power, nothing ever changes.
I watched. While I agree with some of what he said, I don’t need the former host of The Man Show desperately trying to act as the moral conscience of this country. He’s trying to emulate David Letterman and his 9/11 episode, but doesn’t have the same talent, and is also needlessly divisive. And Letterman is no paragon of virtue, given what we’ve learned about his treatment of his female employees.
Oh wow . I guess people aren’t allowed to grow and change
Well only liberals are allowed to. Republicans can’t possibly ever change. Hypocritical isn’t it?
Once republicans show the ability to change …I’ll believe it
Um…so…in your eyes there can be no individual voices & all are presumed guilty of some cult-like group-think huh? That is until you bestow upon them your clearance & approval…is that right? Wow…congrats…as you not only proved Tim’s point above but also showed that you & your elitist mind is a part of the problem.
Sorry…are a part of a problem.
God forbid anyone change and grow. People complain about cancel culture, but when someone shows growth and maturity, you don’t want it because he used to host an immature show? I guess there’s no pleasing you and no one is allowed to be upset when 19 kids are murdered.
Thank you Joshua and David
Linda must be a member of the NRA.
If anything, Jimmy Kimmel should be an example that some people can change. Like he is calling on these politicians to finally change and become a Human Being.
And what are you doing to help address the issue?
What really pisses me off is that most of us are NOT, as the republicans and the NRA are always whining, trying to take away everyone’s guns. But I’m sorry, the average American citizen does NOT need a freaking AR15 ASSAULT WEAPON. And yes, there is also a mental health problem in this country, but BOTH need to be worked on to stop this insanity
All Republicans know how to do is scare people. Fear is 100% of the motivation of their base, but they wrap it up in fake morality.
Its ironic that you posted that in response to something which is all about trying to drum up fear of AR15s. Unfortunately *both* major parties use fear to motivate their base rather than rational discussion of what policies might work: rather than simplistic emotional reactions from people that haven’t bothered to ready or think through issues in depth. Those who actually are concerned about a topic study it in depth: others just make emotional rants on topics they know little about.
This isn’t the place to get into it in depth: but evil people who break the law to kill people will break laws against owning guns. Just as alcohol prohibition and the war on drugs didn’t get rid of the substances they targeted and instead led to increased gangs and violence to run their black markets: the same is likely going to be true of a ban on guns. Addressing the issue is more complicated than people think: and fear on both sides clouds thinking.
While I agree that there is no simple solution, I implore people to look at the stats in other countries where there was a mass shooting and gun laws were implemented. The laws worked.
The Uvalde families and all of the families that are still suffering from previous shootings deserve better than this from all of us. We have to start somewhere…doing nothing is no longer an option.
Take a look at the size and population of those countries and compare it to the size and population of the US. It’s like being the housekeeper in a studio apartment vs being the housekeeper at the Biltmore Estate.
Governor Abbott blames this on a mental health problem but just a few weeks ago he signed legislation to REDUCE mental health benefits. Talk about a hypocrite!
Right? And they want to arm teachers and/oror suddenly supply schools with extra security people, metal detectors, etc but with what money?
And yet these are the same people who just can’t seem to cough up the dough to give teachers actual necessities for their classrooms, like updated textbooks (that actually honestly talk about U.S. history, no less) or new supplies or other various forms of necessary funding to make the schools run smoothly.
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They’re also the same ones that threw hissy fits over the idea of kids wearing masks in schools during the pandemic, because it might be “too traumatizing” for them, or some such nonsense. Doing active shooter drills and going to a mini-prison for class every day, or hearing news of yet another shooting at a school/being witness to their classmates being massacred, on the other hand? Nah, that’s totally fine. That stuff won’t traumatize kids at all, noooooo.
I got it! Let’s arm all the children! That should work, right? (For the clueless, that’s sarcasm.)
The sad thing is, this shooting won’t change anything just like all the others didn’t. Only for the worse. More guns and more fear.
JK did a great job of expressing his opinions no matter what people say in the comments. The time has come for lawmakers to step up & take control of the guns. who cares at this point if it is constitutional or not? It has to be done so just do it and worry about what happens later. At least the kids will be alive to see it.
“Who cares if it is constitutional or not?” – Really? What other rights do you enjoy that you wouldn’t mind having someone else take away from you?
And Kimmel and other Hollywood policy experts need to give it a rest on the gun law whining. Plenty of narcotics have been outlawed for decades, yet those who want them have no problem getting them. There were plenty of guns around 30-40 years ago when tragedies like this didn’t happen. What has changed in America – societally, culturally – since then? Dig into that question and you just may find some real answers.
Cool, now do abortion.
Amen!
You’re right. We just shouldn’t have any laws of any sort at all, because criminals will always find ways to get around them. Brilliant logic, that!
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As for what’s changed over the years, well, our laws have become more and more lax regarding guns and people’s access to them, and as the decades have progressed, our guns have become more and more advanced and deadly. Pretty sure that played a rather significant role in why things have changed as well.
Most responsible gun owners would be fine with more regulations, licensing/insuring guns, requiring training, etc. There is NO reason that we can’t regulate gun owners just like we do with other things like access to Sudafed, cigarettes, alcohol, renting a car, flying/TSA, speed limits, seatbelts, etc. ALL of us should be focusing on ways to make this country safer.
As far as our right to bear arms — yes, but we must do it safely so guns don’t get into the hands of people suffering mental health crises and killing innocent children. Please be open to ideas…background checks, red flag laws…we have to make this stop. That is one issue that we should agree on.
I’d be OK with that, if everyone agrees to no voting without a photo ID and proof of residence. Fair is fair.
Stricter gun laws will not automatically stop mass shootings. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Protect children the way we protect our politicians and celebrities!
Why mass shootings completely stopped or fell dramatically everywhere in the world where stricter gun control was implemented? Why can work in Australia and not here?
Population numbers, country size, borders with other countries which don’t exist in Australia and far less ethnic mix all factor in.
People WITH GUNS kill people. Please spare us the platitudes.
“Stricter gun laws won’t stop shootings,” say the same people trying to ban abortions.
So are Americans just inherently more violent than other countries where gun laws are preventing people with mental health issues from getting hold of assault weapons that can kill so many in such a short space of time? Do you have any sense of what an absolutely extreme outlier the US – and its lack of regulations around gun ownership – actually is? I mean if that’s the line you’re going with fine but somehow I don’t think that’s what you mean…
“Guns don’t kill people.”
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So…pray tell, what exactly do you think the bullets that killed those kids come from, then?
Thoughts and prayers kill people!
Thank you Jimmy for saying what most of us are thinking. Sadly nothing will be done because it’s always about politics and not the safety of our children. Shame on them.
Jimmy Kimmel for President!
The democrats keep saying there should be background checks. This kid was. TWICE. And he passed.
If they want to take all guns, bring it up and see how that goes.
Harden the targets.
plus also remember he lived with his grandmother because his mother was a drug addict and oh a teacher also referred him to counseling because of his mental health issues
There were two school security officers, cops that arrived didn’t go into the school right away to secure the perimeter and teachers gave their lives protecting the kids by following the instructions reinforced every month by the active shooter drills. You can say teachers should have guns – that is NOT realistic and very few teachers and students would be comfortable with that. You can say have one door to the school…fire codes…and a shooter will start get into the school if he really wants to. Bodyguards outside of every school…show me the funding and tell me how that would prevent the tragedy in this school. There were officers. The ONLY realistic solution is doing something about guns. Generational changes in mental health will hopefully help but realistically that takes way too much time.
Pardon me if this is a stupid idea, but why not have doors on schools that all lock down when school is in session. The doors lock so that people can get out but not get in, and attempts to enter a locked door trigger an alarm. Metal detectors screen backpacks, so no metal lunchboxes. One security guard at the main entrance would suffice for unplanned visits. Again, my apologies if this is unrealistic.
The first take away freedom, then they monitor everything around your life, then they tell you what you can and can’t do, install fear with racial instigations and now they they want to take the right of protection away. Man america is one BAD place to live, run people, get out now while you can
Hush, the adults are talking.
Pete – I hope you don’t have kids. This type of thinking gets them killed. Freedom to bear arms in exchange for what…children keep getting shot and killed and families are broken forever. I pray you don’t have to experience this type of pain. If children dying doesn’t wake you up and want change, nothing will.
OK Pete, please leave. Run!
No need to get disputatious, Cindy.
Keep regulating womens wombs…but not guns…come on folks are we serious?
yeah and again how do gun laws in illinois, new york and califormia work oh wait they don’t and oh in new york they have red flag laws but oh law enforcement couldn’t look at his past because it’s sealed because he was a juvinile, so they couldn’t see that he had been held twice for mental health and had to take the 18 year old’s word
Ok, let’s talk Chicago since people seem to know what they are talking about when they have no clue.
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I live here. The gun violence is related to GANG violence. In two areas of the city. Guns are primarily ghost guns from other states (Wisconsin and Indiana where regs are lax and you can get to both states within 20-30 minutes from the city). There aren’t gun stores in the city, school shootings don’t happen, it is truly gang member on gang member for retaliation, drugs, etc.
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Gang-related gun violence in Chicago is a totally separate issue and it is a MAJOR issue. However, you can’t equate teenagers with AR-15s killing children to the Chicago issues.
he’s always crying. he’s done this too many times.
when will he realise that he’s being mocked on social media and alt-right morons actually want to see people like him weep?
show some anger. show some thunder.
America is turning into a. third world country. More guns than people. More mass shootings than any other country. Less rights for workers and less rights for women. America the theocracy is done. Republicans are true domestic terrorists and true foreign agents.
So sad, but I agree with every word.
I know must Republicans want everybody to run around with guns but it’s not just Republicans, there are Democrats as well, there are less but still. The main problem is that some people will do everything to stay in power even if that means take money from everything and everyone, no matter what they stand for. The politician who now as a seat thanks to a campaing sponsored by the NRA will give lots of toughts and lots of prayers and that’s it, because if he supports tougher legislations for guns he will lose the money from the NRA for re-election and they will find another politician who doesn’t mind supporting the NRA. It’s true people kill people but the easier you make it for people to have guns the more likely they will be used. Can you imagine living in Texas when everybody, everywhere all the time can be armed. Yes you can convict people if they shoot somebody unjustified but at that time it’s too late, the harm is done. How can a baby shoot his mother or a toddler shoot his sister and everybody just reacts like “well accidents happen” instead of asking the question what was a loaded gun, with the safety off doing on the back seat of a car, or just lying around in a home. You don’t want to stop people from buying guns, fine, but you can make a law that describes how they have to be kept at home. Is it really necessary to take your gun with you everywhere you go. Somebody cuts you off in traffic, you can yell, you can give him/her the finger or you can take your gun and shoot the person who cut you off. What do you think is going to happen when everybody can buy a gun, without a permit, carry it concealed wherever they go. Imagine beïng a cop in Texas where everyone you stop could be armed. How many children are enough, 22 apparantly not. I don’t wish this to happen but maybe it shoud happen in private school where the future politicians go to school, I’ll bet there will be lots of security there to stop the shooter before he enters the building. Hey you know what the solution is, let’s give guns to the teachers and train them. Suppose the shooter has body armor, the only option is a head shot, guarantee kil. Hey teachers how do you feel about killing a person, yes in self defense but you still have to pull the trigger and you have to live the rest of your live with the knowledge that you have taken a live. Good luck with that, maybe you can get councelling, if you pay for it yourself that is.
Just watched the press conference and it came out that a teacher had broken protocol and propped open that back door that the shooter entered through IMO That teacher should be prosecuted for criminal negligence. I wonder if the shooter knew that the teacher had a habit of doing that. Apparently they propped open the door [to smoke?] and left to retrieve a cell phone.