ABC has officially apologized for a skit aired last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live! following complaints from several organizations.
The bit was called “Kids Table” and it featured Kimmel hosting a round table discussion with kids to mock the childish behavior of politicians during the government shutdown. During the segment, one of the kids made an unscripted comment that ignited outrage after the 6-year-old was asked about the debt America owes China.
The part in question begins at the 1:48 mark:
Kimmel: America owes China a lot of money, $1.3 trillion dollars. How should we pay them back?
Braxton (6-years-old): Kill everyone in China.
Kimmel: Kill everyone in China. Okay (laughter), that’s an interesting idea.
Kimmel: Should this country be forced to pay our own debts?
Kids: Yes!
Kimmel: But you just said “kill everyone in China” a little while ago. What happened to that?
Kimmel: Should we allow the Chinese to live?
Kids: Yes! No!
ABC has stated that it will cut out this skit from any future airings of the episode or any other distribution, including on the internet. The statement read in part:
“We offer our sincere apology. We would never purposefully broadcast anything to upset the Chinese community, Asian community, anyone of Chinese descent or any community at large. Our objective is to entertain. We took swift action to minimize the distribution of the skit by removing it from all public platforms available to us and editing it out of any future airings of the show. We hope our actions and our apology effectively address your concerns. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
Kimmel made headlines a few weeks ago when another kid skit he did making similar fun of Kanye West ignited a brief beef between the rapper and the host.
As Time reported, protestors in San Francisco marched on ABC headquarters there. Carl Chan was the march’s leader and he stated, “We have a sense of humor but not at the expense of killing all Chinese. Today’s hate speech becomes tomorrow’s hate crime.”
