Kimmel apologizes for blackface incident
Jimmy Kimmel has responded to complaints over his appearances in blackface, dating back decades, including impersonations of NBA star Karl Malone and other Black celebrities.
“I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us. That delay was a mistake,” Kimmel wrote in a statement.
Kimmel, who impersonated the stars on radio and later on Comedy Central’s “The Man Show” in the late 1990s, said he “never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl’s skin color than it did his bulging muscles and bald head.”
The television host called these impersonations “embarrassing.”
“I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last twenty-plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show,” he continued. “I know that this will not be the last I hear of this and that it will be used again to try to quiet me.”
The apology came after his NBC rival Jimmy Fallon made a similar apology for sketches he performed in blackface on “Saturday Night Live.’
And Kimmel’s statement followed Donald Trump Jr.’s criticism of the late-night talk show host for using a racial epithet in a separate incident in 1996. The president’s eldest son on Monday referred to a 2013 podcast, in which Kimmel admitted to rapping a racial slur more than two decades ago while imitating Snoop Dogg on KROQ.
Kimmel recently announced that he was taking a summer break on Friday to “spend more time” with his family, part of his new contract.
He will return to work in September.