A recent segment of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has certainly caused a profound uproar that ABC did not anticipate.
During Kimmel’s Oct. 16 show, he asked a group of children at the “Kid’s Table” what their thoughts were of the $1.3 trillion U.S. debt to China, according to the Los Angeles Times.
One child responded by saying “Kill everyone in China,” which prompted a protest of 1,000 people at ABC’s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., and an online petition demanding the White House address the issue.
The petition was started to force a response to the Jimmy Kimmel situation and it recently met the criteria for it: 100,000 signatures within the requisite 30 days, according to Time magazine.
The White House has stated that President Obama will not be calling a press conference to discuss the situation but will post an online response.
Another petition on Change.org compared the language used during the “Kid’s Table” to the anti-Semitic rhetoric used by Nazi Germany. Several protests at ABC studios, including those in Burbank and Phoenix, also demanded that Kimmel be fired.
On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in his press briefing: “ABC should face its mistake head on, and respond with a sincere attitude to the reasonable demands by Chinese in America, and prevent a similar incident from occurring again.”
Many people would argue the Oct. 16 broadcast brought a negative light to the late-night talk show.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the ABC network released a statement apologizing for the TV segment: “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.”
However, Chinese-American groups refuse to accept the apology, believing that many are teaching their children to kill and “not love.”
What many find interesting, including myself, is the fact that the ABC network made a public apology stating they would never “purposefully broadcast anything to upset the Chinese community.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is a pre-recorded show, meaning the network has the ability to edit the recorded footage and eliminate any that may be considered offensive. If the network would never purposefully broadcast anything to offend anyone, then why was such footage, containing a child explaining that all Chinese people must be killed in order to eliminate the Chinese debt, aired in the first place?
I'd like to believe that ABC is made up of respectable men and women, regardless of what this recent Jimmy Kimmel segment may have done to indicate otherwise.
In a nation where many cultures have fought to be respected and treated equally, such comments, no matter if intended to offend or not, certainly have the power to do so.
Reach the columnist at bsramos@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @brookesramos
