Texas TV Network Cuts Away From Jimmy Kimmel's NRA Monologue

Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue was abruptly cut short Wednesday by a local TV station in Texas after he had called out "cowardly" senators for "listening to the NRA."

Kimmel called out the ABC affiliate station in Dallas, WFAA, on Twitter and vowed to understand why it happened. A representative from the station replied to Kimmel on Twitter and explained that it was a mistake.

Kimmel addressed Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas which left 19 children and two adults dead. The suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos was shot and killed by law enforcement.

The incident has once again sparked the gun control debate as Ramos reportedly bought the firearm on his 18th birthday after a Texas gun law change. Politicians have once again been pressed on the subject, and Kimmel intended to pile the pressure on them too.

"Here we are again, on another day of mourning in this country, once again, we grieve for the little boys and girls whose lives have been ended and whose families have been destroyed," Kimmel said to camera at the top of his show.

Five minutes into his nine-minute monologue, Jimmy Kimmel Live! stopped airing and ads ran on the channel instead. Kimmel was made aware of the incident and addressed it on Twitter.

Replying to Kimmel, Pete Freedman, director of digital content at WFAA said: "We'd made the decision earlier in the day to extend our 10 o'clock news to include *extra* Uvalde coverage in our broadcast, it had nothing to do with your monologue. We're on the same team." The message was followed with a handshake emoji.

Freedman was further pressed on the incident on Twitter, clarifying that the 10 O'clock news ran until 10:40 p.m. which may have explained why the feed cut off.

Addressing Kimmel once again, Freedman wrote: "I'll personally ensure we share your monologue again on our website in the morning."

Many Twitter users piled in on the exchange. "You know exactly what you did & it WILL come out," wrote one angry user. Another said, "Convenient timing..." seemingly not believing Freedman's statement.

Kimmel performed his monologue before the studio audience arrived, and ditched the jokes in favor of a political message about gun control.

"Most Americans support keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and children, the majority of us do, Democrats and Republicans." He continued. "And the reason they call them common sense gun laws, because that's what they are—common sense.

"89 percent of Americans want background checks before a gun can be purchased, which is the just the very least we can do. A bipartisan bill passed in the House, it's been stalled in the Senate for over a year now. They won't pass it because our cowardly leaders just aren't listening to us. They're listening to the NRA." Kimmel added. "They're listening to those people who write them checks who keep them in power. Because that's the way politics work."

Kimmel's claim was echoed by Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Tuesday who said 90 percent of Americans want "universal background checks." The Poynter Institute fact checkers of PolitiFact found the claim to be true, citing several studies which found between 84 to 92 percent of all Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, want background checks on gun ownership.

After Newsweek reached out to WFAA's Pete Freedman, he directed us to the station's statement on their website.

"WFAA extended its Wednesday 10 p.m. newscast for important coverage of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" aired immediately following our newscast. Unfortunately, the automated system that triggers commercials aired the first commercial break in error, interrupting Jimmy Kimmel's monologue. The same technical error also impacted two commercial breaks later in the program, not just the one interrupting the monologue. WFAA apologizes for this error."

The entire monologue was then shared on the website.

Newsweek has contacted Jimmy Kimmel.