Jimmy Kimmel has addressed ICE’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Speaking with a sombre, quiet fury, the late show host forewent his typical jokes to impress upon his audience the true gravity of the situation, and to ridicule the Trump administration for its attempts to justify the killing.
“Terrible things happen every day,” said Kimmel. “Sad things happen, tragedies, cruelty, injustice, et cetera. And in most situations, it’s just a bad part of life. But what do you do when something terrible happens and a big group of people, including those who are running our country, tells you it didn’t? They tell you you’re not seeing what you clearly see. Are you supposed to just accept it and move on?”
Kimmel urged viewers to watch the video of the ICE shooting which has been circulating on social media, stating that it’s important that people know what is happening in order to prevent it from happening again. He also vocally criticised President Donald Trump and his supporters for attempting to convince people that Good, who had just dropped her six-year-old-child off at school, had attempted to run down ICE officers as part of a left-wing terrorist movement.
“There used to be a baseline of truth that doesn’t seem to exist any more,” said Kimmel. “There used to be a baseline of decency…. Those days are gone. Maybe not forever. Hopefully not forever, but for now they’re gone….”
“This woman, this unarmed mama — a devout Christian, by the way — who had no criminal record, driving a Honda Pilot trying to get away from armed men in masks in the snow, masked men who are screaming at her. We’re to believe this woman was a terrorist committing a terrorist act? And the fact that ICE shot through her windshield three times, that was her fault?
“The ICE officer was, as [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem put it, ‘following his training,’ which, how stupid do you think we are? That is not just an insult to Renee Good. That’s an insult to every law enforcement officer everywhere. They’re not trained to do that. Again, I encourage you to watch the video for yourself.
“And by the way, I know it isn’t easy to work in law enforcement. I get that people make mistakes in the heat of a situation, but don’t try to tell me that went by the book. Apologise, investigate, let justice be served. I find it hard to believe that even people who love Donald Trump would go along with this, but I guess they do.”
