Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel apologized for a series of years-old skits in which he wore blackface and vowed to return to his show following a summer break.
“I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us. That delay was a mistake. There is nothing more important to me than your respect, and I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke,” he said in a Tuesday statement, which was shared by journalist Yashar Ali.
He acknowledged that he did “a recurring impression of the NBA player Karl Malone” on radio station KROQ and continued doing so on television.
Kimmel added that he had an artist “make me look as much like Karl Malone as possible” and that he “never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl’s skin color than it did his bulging muscles and bald head.”
[Read more: Jimmy Kimmel to take summer leave amid blackface controversy]
The late-night comedian explained that he’s done “impressions of famous people including Snoop Dogg, Oprah, Eminem, Dick Vitale, Rose, and many others” and noted that “many of these sketches are embarrassing, and it is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices.”
Kimmel added that his summer hiatus from the show had been planned “for more than a year” and said that he will be “back to work in September.”
“I will not be bullied into silence by those who feign outrage to advance their oppressive and genuinely racist agendas,” he said.
A day prior to his statement, an audio recording of Kimmel using the N-word in an impersonation of Snoop Dogg resurfaced.
