Why Did WFAA Cut Off Jimmy Kimmel's Words To Abbott and Cruz?

Just a few days shy of a year ago, Gov. Greg Abbott proudly signed into law seven bills that made Texas, as he and House Bill 2622 put it, "a Second Amendment sanctuary state."

The new laws bar ban state enforcement of several federal gun laws, allow for permitless "constitutional carry" of handguns and the use of suppressors and prevent government entities "from contracting with any business that discriminates against firearm and ammunition businesses or organizations," according to a statement released by the governor's office last year. 

Texans were reminded of this moment in the wake of the shooting at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday where 19 children and two teachers died at the hands of a 18-year-old man who legally bought the two rifles he used in the shooting on his 18th birthday. This tragedy happened even in the presence of armed security and while police spent 40 minutes trying to bring down the gunman as parents pleaded with officers outside the school to take further action, according to The Daily Beast.

All of network and cable TV's late-night shows addressed the shooting in the opening moments of Wednesday night's episodes. ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel's statements at the start of Wednesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! went viral. He spoke to an empty studio while sometimes on the verge of tears. However, if you tried to watch Kimmel's moment of tearful clarity on WFAA Channel 8 Wednesday night, you probably didn't see all of it. The station accidentally aired some ads over part of the opening portion of Kimmel's monologue.

WFAA released a statement and apology explaining that the evening news ran long on Wednesday to allow for more coverage of the Uvalde mass shooting and "the automated system that triggers commercials aired the first commercial break in error, interrupting Jimmy's monologue." Kimmel addressed the mistake with the local ABC affiliate on Twitter, saying he believe it was "made unintentionally."

Some commenters on social media accused the station of deliberately cutting Kimmel's monologue, despite his message.

Kimmel directed some of his words to Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, talking about their staunch pro-gun stances.

"I don't believe Ted Cruz doesn't care about children," Kimmel says. "I refuse to believe he's unaffected by this. He's a father. I bet he went to bed sick to his stomach last night. It's easy to call someone a monster, but he's not a monster. He's a human being and some people might not like hearing me say that, but it's true."

It's not cynical to think that neither the state nor Congress will pass any meaningful legislation to prevent the next mass shooting or even deal with some of the smallest issues that could affect the next, inevitable mass shooting. In fact, there's a bill passed by the U.S. House calling for the elimination of the "Charleston loophole" that would increase the minimum amount of time gun sellers must wait to complete a background check on a customer before they can make a sale from three to 10 days. It's been sitting in the Senate for more than a year, according to federal records. 
It's easy to fling names right now at the people who ardently support weakening what little gun regulations and measures can be used to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of clearly deranged and disgruntled people. However, Kimmel went down a different road with Abbott and Cruz as well as anyone on their side of the gun debate by reminding them that there's one side that unites everyone regardless of where they stand.

"It's OK to admit you made a mistake," Kimmel says. "In fact, it's not just OK, it's necessary to admit you made a mistake when your mistake is killing the children in your state. It takes a big person to do something like that. It takes a brave person to do something like that and do I think these men are brave people? No, I don't. I don't, but man I would love it if they surprised me. I would love it if any of these guys surprised me."