Jimmy Kimmel is asking why a local Texas station abruptly cut to commercial during his emotional remarks about the Uvalde school shooting on his May 25 show.
During his monologue, the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" host made an impassioned speech to an empty studio about the need for stricter gun laws in Texas and implored senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, as well as Gov. Greg Abbott, to enact change following the shooting at Robb Elementary. The May 24 shooting killed 19 children and two teachers, according to NBC News.
"Our cowardly leaders just aren't listening to us," Kimmel said, holding back tears. "They're listening to the NRA, they're listening to those people who write them checks that keep them in power. Because that's how politics works."
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Following the episode's release, Kimmel shared his monologue on Twitter, writing, "To my friends in Dallas who are asking: I do not know whether our @ABCNetwork affiliate @wfaa cut away from my monologue tonight intentionally or inadvertently but I will find out. In the meantime, here's what you didn't get to see."
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kimmel's monologue was abruptly cut short for a local news spot on WFAA/Ch. 8, which serves the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The news segment was followed by several commercials, after which the station returned to Kimmel's monologue.
WFAA News shared in a statement that they extended their 10 p.m. newscast for "important coverage" in light of the shooting and the commercials were unintentional. "Unfortunately, the automated system that triggers commercials aired the first commercial break in error, interrupting Jimmy Kimmel's monologue," the statement read. "The same technical error also impacted two commercial breaks later in the program, not just the one interrupting the monologue. WFAA apologizes for this error."
According to Variety, the WFAA director of digital content Peter Freedman directly replied to Kimmel's tweet as well. "We'd made the decision earlier in the day to extend our 10 o'clock news to include extra Uvalde coverage in our broadcast, it had nothing to do with your monologue," Freedman wrote. "We're on the same team."
