Jimmy Kimmel was overcome with emotion as he addressed the Wildfires in Los Angeles.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! The 57-year-old host returned to his ABC late slot on Monday, January 13, and opened the show with an emotional monologue about the fires that started earlier this month and continue to burn, destroying homes and displacing thousands.
“It’s 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. “We’re back in our studio that we had to evacuate.”
“That’s our building right there, El Capitan,” he said, showing footage of a fire near the studio where the show was taped. “That’s how close this fire was to our theater here. Many of us had to leave our homes in a hurry. Some of our colleagues lost their homes. It was terrible.”
As wildfires continue to spread through the Los Angeles area, several celebrities are taking to social media to share how they’ve been affected. “Evacuated and safe with kids, dogs and cats. We are praying and grateful for the first responders,” Mandy Moore wrote in a Wednesday, Jan. 8, statement on her Instagram Story. In a follow-up post, she (…)
Kimmel continued, “Everybody who lives in this city knows someone — most of us, lots of people — families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, whose houses have burned down. And the truth is, we don’t even know if it’s over.”
Even as the fires continue to ravage LA, the comedian said he was encouraged to see so many people come together amid the tragedy.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say it was a disgusting, shocking, horrible experience. But it was also, in many ways, a beautiful experience, because once again we see our fellow men and women coming together to support each other,” he said. “People who lost their homes were volunteering in parking lots helping others who had lost theirs.”
Kimmel noted that his Jimmy Kimmel Live! helper, Guillermo Rodriguez“he almost had to come live with me” because he was at risk of being evacuated from his home.
Los Angeles has witnessed a frightening natural weather phenomenon – and its star community has been hit hard. An extreme storm driven by Santa Ana gusts sparked fast-burning brush fires around 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, with drivers on Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive abandoning their cars to seek safety, according to (…)
The late-night talk show host said a total of nearly 20 people stayed with him to shelter from the fires. (Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney have two children, Jane, 10, and Billy, 7. He also shares two grown-up children, Katie33 and Kevin31, with ex-wife Gina Maddy.)
“We had 19 people and four dogs living with us. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Kimmel said. “It’s so weird looking around your house and deciding what you want to get, then fighting with your kids about what they want to get. We had to leave a lot of stuffed animals.”
Check it out LAFD website for local wildfire alerts and click here for resources how to help those affected.
