Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is known for making audiences laugh with his show, but last night the talk show host had no choice but to get serious.
During his four-minute monologue on Tuesday, Kimmel paid tribute to Cecil the lion, who was hunted and murdered by an American dentist in Zimbabwe. And it was no laughing matter.
Blasting the Minnesota native, Walter Palmer, Kimmel expressed his frustration with Palmer's sorry excuse for an apology.
In an official statement from Palmer, released on Tuesday, the hunter justified his actions by saying: "I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion." To which Kimmel responded, "Stop saying you took the animal. You take aspirin. You killed the lion!"
Kimmel went on to recount the horrific way the hunter lured the animal out of the reserve before killing him, questioning what exactly would possess the man to want to kill a lion. "Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things?" Kimmel exclaimed to the live audience.
Barely masking his disgust for Palmer, Kimmel explains that he isn't against hunting for food or as part of one's culture or in an effort to keep the animal population in check. Instead, his problem is with the "A-hole dentist who wants a lion's head over the fireplace in his man-cave."
Once Kimmel finished his rant about the hunter, he announced that he wanted some good to come out of the tragedy, sharing a link to the wildlife conservation research unit and even choking back a few tears.
Watch Kimmel's entire monologue here and let us know what you think about this act of animal cruelty in the comments below.
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