A local TV station in Dallas cut off Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue about the Texas school shooting, leading to outcry from viewers and an apology from the station.
Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA began airing commercials in the middle of Kimmel’s Wednesday night opening speech about the massacre in which an 18-year-old gunned down 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, about 300 miles southwest of Dallas.
The TV station said Thursday it was a glitch and not censorship.
“The automated system that triggers commercials aired the first commercial break in error, interrupting Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue,” WFAA said Thursday in a statement. “The same technical error also impacted two commercial breaks later in the program, not just the one interrupting the monologue.”
Kimmel, 54, accepted the apology on Twitter.
“I’ve known the staff at (WFAA) personally and professionally for almost 20 years and believe this mistake was made unintentionally,” he wrote. “Thanks for reposting and for correcting this error. Sending love to all my friends in Texas.”
According to viewers, Kimmel was cut off while talking about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his plans to speak at an NRA convention later this week.
WFAA posted the monologue in its entirety online.
“Once again we grieve for the little boys and girls,” Kimmel said, holding back tears.
“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 it’s indefensible, so they’d rather sweep this under the rug.”
