There’s been a lot of debate and conversation about Jimmy Kimmel’s transformation this year, from a somewhat bumbling, apolitical late-night talk show host to the more emotional, political badass commentator and activist we see today. Personally, I like it – there’s been a need for someone in the late-night world to really step and do this kind of thing now that Jon Stewart and David Letterman are no longer there for us every night. Stephen Colbert has been trying (and I’m still not really into New Colbert), and Trevor Noah is a nothingburger, honestly. John Oliver carved out a brilliant place for himself, but he only comes on once a week.
So, I’m glad that Kimmel has stepped up. The fact that it’s authentic and personal for him makes his commentary especially relevant and, frankly, difficult to criticize. You know what I mean? The Deplorables have a hard time attacking Jimmy Kimmel over health care because of Kimmel’s personal story of his baby. They’ll have a hard time attacking Kimmel over his open, heartbreaking emotion about what happened in his hometown of Las Vegas too. Kimmel’s cold open last night was about the Las Vegas Massacre and gun control. Here’s the video:
There’s a lot of talk this morning about Kimmel’s emotion, his sadness, the fact that he was choking back tears for a solid 10 minutes. But you know what strikes me? This is an angry f–king monologue. Justifiably angry. Kimmel is sad, absolutely, but more than that, he is so f–king angry that he can barely see straight. We need more of this. More anger. Sadness, prayers, condolences, all of that hasn’t gotten us anywhere.
Kimmel also called out President Donald Trump, Senator Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan “should be praying – they should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country because it’s so crazy,” he said, also calling them “lawmakers who won’t do anything about this because the NRA has their balls in a money clip.”
Then, Kimmel showed photos of 56 senators on the big screen behind him. “I want to show you something, here are faces of the Senators who – days after the shooting in Orlando – voted against a bill that would have closed those loopholes,” Kimmel told the audience. “The House of Representatives will be voting on a piece of legislation this week. It’s a bill to legalize the sale of silencers. For guns. This is what they’re working on. We have a major problem with gun violence in this country – and I guess they don’t care.”
Pretty much.
Screengrabs courtesy of ABC.
I notice that on Twitter…the rightwing commentariat has gotten very snippy about him, but they don’t have any valid attacks because he is resonating. He’s also likable and his emotion is raw.
He is 100% right
It IS a public safety issue
!!!!!!!!
This level of terror is not only horrific to contemplate and crushing on the soul
It’s also detrimental to our collective humanity.
This guy brought evil to the masses in a way that should scare even the most ardent Second Ammendment supporter bc this isn’t about bearing arms
This is about mass murder.
You can keep your guns- no one is “taking them away” but why do we need this semi and automatic weapons of mass destruction???????? Why are these part of the equation? Where is the logic???
I’m so angry. We should not have to factor this kind of risk into everyday life in America. That’s not freedom that is terror.
Keep your hunting rifles; keep your pistols.
If you say we need automatic weapons of mass destruction I say you are treading on me and my constitutional rights.
It is about public safety!!!!!!!!!
You need a special license to drive a truck. To drive a motorcycle. To operate heavy machinery like cranes.
But these WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION are just the price we pay for freedom?! Fuck no!!!!!!!! I’m sick of it!!!!!!!
I also wanted to add I disagree that Trevor Noah is a “nothingburger”
He’s been doing a fantastic job
Here’s a great clip about Vegas and the gun conversation it’s “too soon” to have
https://www.google.com/amp/deadline.com/2017/10/trevor-noah-las-vegas-mass-shooting-stephen-paddock-gun-control-talk-video-1202180984/amp/
The only positive outcome of this current madness is to see the brave people with a platform standing up for what is right. They are why I love this country – the ones who speak truth to power.
Trying? Stephen Colbert has been amazing.
yep, my jaw hit the floor when I read “trying”.
*shrug* Colbert played it safe until he was in danger of being fired if he didn’t actually show some personality. Personally, I still don’t think Colbert has really found his voice, especially compared to Kimmel. Just my opinion.
Stephen has been bad a$$ ever since the Dotard stole the election! I see no difference between the Late Show and the Colbert Report with the exception of a not really “conservative pundit”, who stuck it to the conservatives every chance he got! Before his monologue he made a very heartfelt statement. I also loved Conan’s statement about how one of his staff brought him a folder of the mass shooting statements he had done in the past. He stated he nor any late night talk show host should have a folder containing mass shooting . This should not be the norm but sadly it will be regardless of who’s in the WH.
Colbert has been amazing, as has Seth Myers, and they both do a political interview better than the others, although none are on par with Letterman as a political interviewer. Kimmel’s is different in that, while Colbert and Myers are doing analysis of issues, Kimmel’s stuff is far more personal. This is stuff that is happening to him and his family. His newborn was in crisis. One of his band members was actually at the concert in Las Vegas when the shooting happened. And Congress is passing laws or destroying laws that will help these people in his life. Both takes are needed. James Corden was also amazing last night, bringing in the view from outside where these things don’t happen like they do here.
+++++++++++
Colbert is smart and funny and cutting. Kimmel makes you feel it. That’s the difference.
Colbert has always shined where cutting political satire exists. I think he’s struggling somewhat with the late night format to find the right balance of acerbic wit and cathartic humor, but he’s getting there.
I find that all of these well-known voices are incredibly important right now. You might feel more affinity with some more than others, but they’re all on the same side.
Why does no one mention Seth Meyers’ show? He spends a solid 15 or 20 minutes on political and social commentary every night. His “A Closer Look” segment has consistently taken Trump and the Republican-led congress to task ever since the election of a personality-disordered madman to the office of President.
LahdidahBaby…I agree. I think Seth Myers has by far the most incisive interesting cutting “Closer Look commentary. I don’t miss it. He gets right to the point in an interesting informative way. IMO he’s the best at that kind of analysis..and he lands the punches hard too.
Run for office Jimmy. Keep ur show and become a congressman. Fight the fight.
I watched his monologue earlier today, here in Australia with helpless rage at the apathetic reaction from US Senators on social media and interviews.
Jimmy’s impassioned speech was spot on. Things CAN change. They can. Australia is proof of it. Granted the US has an NRA-brainwashed mindset to break, and an amendment in it’s way – but it CAN happen.
It will take politicians of strength and resolve,who care more for their fellow Americans than they do for their political careers – and a tidal wave of support behind them – but it’s not impossible.
The images out of LV are truly heartbreaking. I wish for the American people to move forward with grit and determination to stop this happening again. xxx
Everything Jimmy said is correct. I just don’t understand how people can justify anyone who’s not in a war zone or a police officer would need to be able to purchase those kind of guns. This country is a mess.
He’s been so solid for the better part of a year. I never really watched Kimmel before 2016. Now he’s a regular having bumped my regular watch of Fallon (who I don’t f*ck with at all).
Wow, I love that he’s stepping up. Big time
Fantastic, Jimmy. I wish he had pointed out the reason the NRA is pushing to make silencers easier to get, which is supposedly for the hunters’ ears, with no thought to the policemen and innocent victims who woukd then have no sound to go by where gunfire is coming from Insane.
The Repubs are in the NRA’s deep pockets. It makes me sick
Not that I think it’s necessary legislation, but for the record, silencers don’t actually “silence” guns. Movies greatly exaggerate their ability to lower the sound threshold on the explosive force. They take the noise level down several notches, but you can still hear the gunshot pretty distinctly. It may, however, be a problem in a situation like Vegas where the shooter was firing from a distance, making it more difficult to localize the sound.
I read something yesterday – can’t remember where – that the conversation about guns in america basically ended after Sandy Hook, which is when we learned that American’s could watch little white children being shot, but can’t stomach giving up their guns.
I hate to say it – but everything I have seen from the WH to my facebook feed, tells me this is where we are now. I wish politicians and the NRA would just be honest with us, and say it how it is, this is the world we live in – in the words of Bill O’Rielly – this is the price we pay for ‘freedom’. Gag.
As a Canadian, I confess I was amazed that there was no legislative response to Sandy Hook. And the cognitive dissonance is amazing. Ban people from Muslim countries because of a minority with terrorist ideology but make guns easier to get notwithstanding the propensity for mass shootings. Even if you accept that the issue with the shooters is mental illness (which I do not), without universal health care, there is not even a collateral response to these tragedies. It’s truly impossible for me to understand why this gun ideology trumps everything else. My heart breaks for you.
This +10000000. If the US couldn’t make change after sandy Hook nothing will change. And sadly the rest of the world will stop caring eventually if the government doesn’t care about its own people.
Unfortunately, he is right. Between the NRA, Koch Brothers, oil/banking/insurance, etc. too many legislators have their “balls in a money clip.” And yet they also keep getting reelected, so anyone choosing to keep casting a vote for those 56 Senators has a small bit of responsibility as well.
That’s the thing.
Sure, I hate Mitch, Ryan and Trump as much as the next guy but sometimes I wonder how the American voter can be so divorced from the situation. We can blame them but who keeps voting them in – the American voter.
And yes gerrymandering is a significant part of the problem but so is voter apathy.
It’s way past time to look in the mirror America.
If you either vote for them or stay home and decline to participate in the process. Either way, you’re part of the problem.
And regards the NRA, well they are vultures. Stocks are up and new gun and gun accessory ads rolling out as we speak (type).
I applaud his monologue and I’m glad he isn’t afraid to say it and that the network isn’t afraid to let him say it.
Myself, I have grown cynical about this ever changing. We as a country have been groomed on gun worship and it has been stoked with paranoia and every bit of preventable carnage just seems to make it worse, not better. And frankly, in a sick way – we get off on it. We’re addicted to the trauma, the blood, the grief. We like waving our flags and declaring that we won’t be broken by this and we’re going to be strong because this f*cking sick theme has been twisted into the American narrative of can do/we don’t need anyone bullshit. Too many people still cling to this pioneer patriot fairy tale. And all of this despite FACTUAL evidence showing that this level of gun violence literally happens in no other country.
Unfortunately, this is too often framed a s a liberal conspiracy ( which is dumb since Democrat congress members take NRA money too), so until more sane gun owners and conservative middle america speaks out more strongly about gun control, nothing is going to change.
Preach, Jimmy. The NRA created the second amendment angle as a marketing campaign because guns as recreation were on the decline. They have blood on their hands each time one of these shootings occurs and each time Congress does nothing to address this epidemic. Why is it they think laws will stop abortions but they won’t stop shootings? I’m sickened and disgusted and filled with rage. I can’t cry anymore, though. I seem to have run out of tears after Sandy Hook.
Other than an assassin in a cheesy movie, who needs a silencer??
I mean even if you take up the 2nd Amnd to overthrow the government, all these crazy guns won’t help. They have nukes, bomber drones, and war chests deeper than imaginable. Collecting military grade guns wont make a difference, but allowing it provides people with hate/issues the opportunity to murdered individuals, and huge masses of people.
So even more people will be gunned down with silencers because the victims won’t be able to hear the gunshots in the next mass shooting.And yes there will be another mass shooting.This shooter has given these idiots another option to wreck havoc.Shoot people from a high-rise building.
Apparently gunmakers will sell more guns because they need a certain type of barrel to screw on a silencer (suppressor). It’s all about $$$.
…
The silence suppressors are designed for hobbyists who want to avoid ear damage at the gun range, as they buy and shoot weapons that were never meant for private use–weapons that overheat, make incredible noise and do massive damage to targets. U.S. gun owners have been made to feel like they have a right to own anything that’s for sale, and they have created a whole social activity (with families) around shooting bigger and bigger guns. Yes, if it passes it will be a windfall for gun makers, as people will upgrade to these systems. We have to oppose this before they start selling tanks to people–wish I felt like that was far fetched, but at this point…
They’re trying to make silencers easier to get??? How many lives were saved in Las Vegas because they heard the sounds and ran?? Ear damage? Ear plugs are $5 at the drug store. WTF?!?!?!?
Seriously America are you sure the NRA is not a sleeper cell of ISIS? They really seem to want Americans dead. I wish I was joking.
They want money and power. They don’t care how many deaths result.
Fun fact: the NRA has lots of connections with Russia. Let that wash over you for a bit and think, too, who assisted that orange jowl into office.
Omg
Yup. Sadly, this is a real thing.
Good for Jimmy. We are living in hell and I’m not sure we’ll ever make it out. But I’m glad he’s stepped up. Colbert too. And Seth’s A Closer Look segments are amazing.
Since Sandy Hook in 2015, 90,000 Americans have been killed by gunshot. The NRA is directly responsible. They are a terrorist organization. I have dual US/UK nationality, live in the UK and travel to France often, and every, single time, my mom in Mississippi warns me not to go because of terrorism. And every single time I calmly remind her that I have a many tens of thousands times greater chance of being shot on any given day when I visit her.
I really must disagree about Trevor Noah! He’s my favorite of the late night hosts right now. So thoughtful and articulate and brings an interesting perspective as someone who’s lived in America for just a couple of years. Love him. And his memoir was great, too.
Trevor Noah has done a great job. He’s really come into his own this year. And I think his perspective is especially important as the only major host (I think) who is also a person of color.
I stopped watching the Daily Show once he was hired. Noah never really captured my attention, and that seems to be the case for a lot of people. The last I heard his ratings aren’t that great, especially since they should be under the Trump administration. I know several people who like Noah, but they have different tastes than I do, let’s just put it that way. He is appealing to certain people, but I think he lacks broad appeal among the liberal base the way Jon Stewart had.
Let’s not forget Samantha Bee! I feel like her righteous rage has been hugely important (even when she has the occasional miss), in part because she’s pushing back against the idea that good girls aren’t supposed to be angry. But I’m glad Jimmy is finally stepping up and finding his voice. Like everyone here, I’m mostly just feeling weary despair about this ever changing, given the stranglehold the NRA and the military industrial complex have over the majority of politicians.
Hunters can BUY ears plugs for fuck’s sake.
Not just that though. Honestly, if you choose to take part in a “hobby” where you might suffer damage, isn’t that the problem of the individual?
I know I’m being a Debbie Downer here, but if a school full of shot-up children (Sandy Hook) couldn’t sway Congress, then I’m sorry, but nothing will ever sway them to do the right thing. Nothing.
I hate to say it but when I heard about Las Vegas yesterday morning I wasn’t shocked. That is how common shootings and attacks have become for us in these (Dis)United States.
The Banality of Evil, indeed.
I agree Boston. I have no hope it will change.
why would God listen to the prayers of donald trump? no god in any religion is listening to that piece of shit.
I, too, cry when I’m angry.
I have little hope of change, but I appreciate that Jimmy expressed what many of us feel in our hearts
Keep up the resistance, Jimmy. Some things actually get through to the blockheads in Washington (see health care).
God Bless Jimmy. He said what needed saying.
I admire him so much for rallying us, at a time when we feel like nothing can be done. At this dark hour, what he is saying is that we must keep pushing to change our society for the better, even if it seems impossible.
His comment that it’s like we’ve opened up a window to hell is spot in. That’s exactly how I would explain what life since January, and especially these last few weeks of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and floods, have felt like.
I was sobbing watching Kimmel’s monologue, and crying tears of rage with Colbert- both are spot on. I had to quit at two-!!
I live in a gun happy state- grew up with hunters,etc. When pressed, none can offer any reason for Joe/Jane Doe to own automatic/semi weapons. All I ever hear is “if you restrict THAT gun, what’s next????”. How is that even an argument?
I agree-Sandy Hook just showed how extensive this madness is. When Reagan was nearly assassinated and Brady was so grievously injured, there was some glimmer of progress towards rational debate. Now you have both Gifford and the most recent House member shot, and its crickets.
And God forbid the issue of the truly heinous statistics re gun use in domestic violence cases is ever a blip in Congress’ conscience.
That was heartbreaking to watch.
Samantha Bee
Stephen Colbert
John Oliver
Jimmy Kimmel
These are the voices I adore listening to. Truth to power.
I agree with the comment about creating laws to restrict abortion while saying we can’t have laws for guns. That is such nonsense. Guns kill and injure way more people than abortions. Everyone who owns a gun needs a license. No one should be allowed to have more than a handgun or a rifle. That’s it. Do you really need a semi to go hunting? If you do, then maybe you should find another sport or another means for getting food. Do you really think a band of people are going to break into your house at night? And if so, that you would have the presence of mind to grab your semi? You’d be dead before that ever happened. As for carrying them in public. No. N. O. You want to do that, grow a pair and become a cop. Like others have said, if we are all carrying weapons then how do we know who is good and who is bad? Not to mention, people have quick tempers these days. I’d rather see people shouting or throwing a punch then reaching for their guns and killing people over some dumb argument.
I’m an American, who has lived more than 10 years in Rwanda. When I see things like this happen in my own country, while living in a country that is STILL rebuilding from hell, from the same kind of hell Jimmy Kimmel is talking about ~ I’m absolutely stunned with grief. Thank God we have people like him in our media speaking out – take a look at Radio Mille Collines (the Fox News of a true genocide) and what happens if you don’t have brave people like this speaking out about the need for political debate. Seriously ~ I thought we were better than this when I was a 25 year old who came here for the first time, but we aren’t. We could be, though, and we need to take the actions right now to take the right path.