Jimmy Kimmel and ABC may have issued apologies for the recent "Kid's Table" skit, but the fallout continues.
The Live! segment, which featured Kimmel asking children how to alleviate the national debt and one responding "kill everyone in China," prompted an official petition at WhiteHouse.gov and it has received the 100,000 signatures needed to elicit an official response from the administration.
PHOTOS: Hollywood's Memorable Mea Culpas
The petition, created by someone under the name "H.Z." from Cedar Park, TX, created the page on Oct. 19, and as of Nov. 7, it has 101,271 signees. "The kids might not know anything better," reads the petition. "However, Jimmy Kimmel and ABC’s management are adults. They had a choice not to air this racist program, which promotes racial hatred."
As the official White House website notes, if a petition gathers enough signatures, it will be reviewed by staff and receive an official response. It does not promise anything beyond that, and the petition includes some rather unlikely requests. "The program is totally unacceptable and it must be cut," it continues. "A sincere apology must be issued. It is extremely distasteful and this is the same rhetoric used in Nazi Germany against Jewish people."
Kimmel's skit has already prompted several mea culpas, including the host greeting protesters outside of his Hollywood Blvd. studio and apologizing in person.
"I come to you with nothing but love in my heart," he said. "I’m a comedian, I was trying to make people laugh, I'm sorry that I did it."
The protestors' reactions have been quite charged. In addition to calling for his firing, the Los Angeles group that assembled in front of the El Capitan Theatre held up signs with a Hitler mustache drawn onto Kimmel's face.
