Quinta Brunson accepted Jimmy Kimmel’s apology & got a redo on her Emmy speech

One of the best and worst moments of Monday night’s Emmy Awards was Quinta Brunson winning her first Emmy for Outstanding Writing for Abbott Elementary, then having to give her speech over Jimmy Kimmel’s prone body. As Peridot covered, Kimmel vastly overestimates the public’s interest in his terrible comedy bits and instead of getting up and allowing Quinta to have her historic moment, Kimmel decided to make Quinta’s moment all about him. It was nasty. After she won, Quinta did her winner’s press conference backstage at the Emmys and she was nothing but gracious, calling Kimmel “one of the godfathers of comedy” and talking about how supportive Kimmel has always been of her and her career.

Well, Quinta was always scheduled as a guest on Kimmel’s show Wednesday night. Abbot Elementary’s new season starts next week and of course ABC booked her on Kimmel’s show. It was Kimmel’s turn yet again to make space for Quinta, and he gave Quinta time in his opening monologue to redo her Emmy speech (I’ve cued it to that moment):

Then, as soon as Quinta sat down for the interview, Kimmel apologized thoroughly to her and explained why he was wrong. Quinta was once again gracious and she acknowledged and accepted his apology.

I understand why people were really mad at Kimmel and I was too – what he did was awful. It wasn’t just a stupid comedy bit, it legitimately hijacked Quinta’s big moment. But I also think that everything that happened afterwards was fine/good. I hate that Quinta had to be gracious about it, but I also think she was unfazed for the most part, and I think she truly accepts Kimmel’s apology.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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19 Responses to “Quinta Brunson accepted Jimmy Kimmel’s apology & got a redo on her Emmy speech”

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  1. Sam the Pink says:

    It was intensely stupid, and the optics were awful – plenty of people noticed that the only winner he chose to do this to was a black woman, which, even if he did not see that, the viewers did. The bigger issue is that Jimmy is just not funny in most cases and his insistence on inserting himself into a moment where his “comedy” was not needed or appreciated speaks to his character.

  2. Lady Luna says:

    I honestly forgot about him because I was focused on her. But yeah, he’s an idiot.

  3. AmelieOriginal says:

    I didn’t watch the Emmys apart from seeing Amanda Seyfried win and also tipsy Jennifer Coolidge so I got to see her dance off to Hit the Road Jack lol. But I saw this later and I was very annoyed for Quinta who has every right to call out Jimmy and be stern with him. I think because she’s so new to the scene (I know she was on Buzzfeed and well known on Youtube and while I’m familiar with a lot of Buzzfeed personalities, I had never heard of her), she probably feels like she has to be gracious which I hate.

  4. Lexilla says:

    He started with the ol’ non-apology and self-corrected in real time: “People thought I did this, maybe I did, I’m sorry if I did, I did.”

    I still think his stunt was inexcusable and his apology was self-absorbed and insufficient. But maybe this is why I don’t watch his show.

    • Jennifer says:

      Agreed. Duh, dude, you did it. But this bro apologizing/giving her time is better than I’d expect from him anyway.

  5. tealily says:

    I didn’t watch this year so I only saw the responses to this. Yeah, it was stupid. I don’t find Jimmy that funny. But I also think he’s a decent guy and realized he screwed this up. I guess that’s comedy. Sometimes you do it wrong. The great ones do it wrong less frequently. Jimmy is not one of the great ones.

    • Amy Bee says:

      That decent guy used to do skits in blackface on his show.

      • La Dolce Vita says:

        Exactly. Blackface.
        And he is also a misogynist, describing The Man Show as “a joyous celebration of chauvinism”. Where his co-host stated “Oprah needs to do a little less brainwashing, and a little more sock washing!”

        No-one should ever be given credit for pivoting (publicly) because they’re re-branding to have a more mainstream career.

        You only have to look at who he hangs out with – whitemansplainer Damon and harrasser Affleck. The truism “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are” comes to mind.

  6. Flowerlake says:

    I’ve avoided Kimmel’s stuff for a long time and won’t be giving him a view by clicking on that.

    • Gems2712 says:

      I listen to the Keep It podcast and co host Louis Virtel is a writer for Kimmel. He seems decent and Ira Madison III keeps him on his toes so I hope this is addressed and the writer’s room feels ashamed of what happened.

  7. Imara219 says:

    🙄 Black women always have to be gracious to maintain working relationships and networks. Some ppl on Black Twitter photoshopped him out and the difference is so startingly. It dawned on me that whenever people use footage of her acceptance he’ll be in the frame. They even played her off because his dumb bit ate into her speech time. Atrocious

    • RL says:

      You’re so right – the fact that he cut into her time should not have been held against her.

      I did watch the do-over on Kimmel – I appreciate that the cameraman made an obvious point of keeping Kimmel out of her shot as much as possible, and self-corrected whenever she moved. They at least worked to make up for the whole debacle.

  8. Amy Bee says:

    Black women always have to be gracious. She had a right to tell off if she wanted to. What he did was terrible

    • Jennifer says:

      I would have been seriously tempted to kick him a bit. That would have been even more drama, though.

  9. Andrea says:

    What a lovely person and a class act. He doesn’t even deserve to be in her presents. Good for her and I wish her continued career success!!

  10. Merricat says:

    Kimmel is a guy who learns. I think he’ll remember this lesson.
    But Quinta is beyond gracious.

  11. QuiteContrary says:

    Quinta is amazing. I could watch whatever she does all day long — she’s so funny and lovely and talented. Lucky us that we get to watch her talent in action for years to come.

    (Treating Kimmel here as the afterthought he is.)

  12. Kim says:

    Classy lady!

  13. Bisynaptic says:

    She’s adorable! And classy. More power to her.