Jimmy Kimmel gets emotional over LA fires, blasts Trump comments
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel got emotional over the Los Angeles-area fires and took aim at President-elect Trump on his ABC show Monday.
“It has been a very scary, very stressful, very strange week here in L.A., where we work, where we live, where our kids go to school,” Kimmel said, his voice quivering. “We are back in our studio, which we had to evacuate on Wednesday.”
“This is — that's, that's … our building right there, the El Capitan. That is how close this fire was to our theater here,” Kimmel added, with footage of fires shown on the screen. “Many of us had to leave our homes in a hurry. Some of our co-workers lost their homes.”
Kimmel then later took a swing at Trump, saying he didn’t “want to get into all the vile and irresponsible and stupid things our alleged future president and his gaggle of scumbags chose to say during our darkest and most terrifying hour.”
“The fact that they chose to attack our firefighters, who apparently aren’t white enough to be out there risking their lives on our behalf is — it’s disgusting but it’s not surprising,” he added.
The recent fires in and around Los Angeles have devastated the region, destroying property and leaving a death toll in the double digits in their wake.
Trump has gone after officials in charge of dealing with the fires, most notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), as the blazes have raged on. Trump called for Newsom’s resignation on Truth Social last week, saying the fires were “all his fault.”
“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
On Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “fires are still raging in L.A.,” and that “incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out.”
“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place,” the president-elect added.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.