USJAN 27, 2026
Jimmy Kimmel Fights Back Tears In Intense Speech After Alex Pretti Tragedy: “This Has To Stop”
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Jimmy Kimmel’s Monday night episode was a little bit more emotional than usual.
The humor-laden Jimmy Kimmel Live was filled with tension as Kimmel broke down twice during his opening monologue, talking about the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis.
Audiences also remained silent during the speech, unlike the laughs his monologues usually elicit.
Highlights
- Jimmy Kimmel emotionally addressed the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis on his Monday show.
- Kimmel condemned ICE's actions as criminal and criticized the Trump administration's self-defense claims.
- Kimmel urged agreement that peaceful protestors and those like Pretti don't deserve to be killed by law enforcement.
Jimmy Kimmel tears up during emotional episode about Alex Pretti
Image credits: Jimmy Kimmel/YouTube
“I spent the weekend, like probably a lot of you did – looking at my phone – and just feeling shocked – and sick – about what is happening in Minneapolis,” Kimmel said at the start of the monologue.
“One video after another. Screaming people being torn from their families, Americans — people who were born in the United States — being pulled out of their cars for the crime of having an accent or whatever, children — small children, babies — being tear-gassed, taken into custody, separated from their parents. Just one atrocity after another, being committed by this gang of poorly-trained, shamefully-led, mask-wearing goons. And that is what they are – they’re goons committing vile, heartless, and even criminal acts.”
Kimmel continued, “And it’s sickening to watch, and it’s frustrating to watch. It’s like we’re all being forced to play a game that has no rules. They just make up the rules as they go along.”
Image credits: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Pretti was shot during an encounter with ICE on January 24, in an incident that occurred just weeks after another Minneapolis resident, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot and killed by an ICE agent while in her vehicle.
A CNN video analysis showed a federal immigration officer removing a gun from Pretti right before he was fatally shot at least ten times. This disputes the claims of the Trump administration that the shooting was in self-defense, after Pretti pointed a gun at the agents.
“We see these videos – in which we clearly see one of our fellow Americans executed by ICE – and they won’t even admit that it was a mistake! They say the Honda SUV Renee Good was driving was ‘weaponized’, they say the gun Alex Pretti had a license to carry in an open carry state –- a right many of these same people screamed very loud about when it was Kyle Rittenhouse carrying the gun –- a gun that Alex Pretti did not even draw, did not touch, a gun that was taken from him by one of the agents – before he was shot dead by the other ones. They fired ten times onto an ICU nurse, they’re telling us, ‘well, it was justified, you know?’” Kimmel continued, talking about the Trump administration’s justification of both crimes as self-defense, despite contradictory proof.
“Is that the law and order that you voted for, if you voted for this? Every day is a nightmare now. My wife and I have family in Minneapolis. They’re afraid to take their kids to school. They’re afraid to go to work. And I can only imagine how people who aren’t white feel about this!” Kimmel said, frustrated.
“How does this end? What’s the plan here?”
He continued, “Is the plan to just keep doing this in every city that didn’t vote for Donald Trump? Does anyone on any side believe this is good leadership?”
“We keep saying we need to find subjects that we can agree on,” he said, before adding, “Can we agree that peaceful protestors -– including moms driving SUVs on their way back after dropping their six-year-old off at school and a nurse who stepped in to protect a woman from harm –- don’t deserve to be shot dead in the street by the people we are paying to protect us? Can we agree on that? Can we agree that when we see a person murdered in cold blood, that there should at least be an investigation of that?”
Kimmel continued, “And that our ironically titled ‘head of homeland security’ has the responsibility to get facts before telling us that what we saw, we did not see? If we can’t agree on that, forget it then.”
'Is the plan to just keep doing this in every city that didn’t vote for Donald Trump?' Kimmel asked
A while later, Kimmel added, “Let’s cut the bullshit already. If that was ISIS, instead of ICE, we’d be firing missiles at somebody and pledging allegiance to the flag all together right now.”
“Watch that video, watch every angle, as upsetting as it might be, and decide for yourself if that’s making America great. And if it isn’t, please say something about it,” Kimmel urged people in the audience.
“This has to stop. And I’m convinced now that the only people who can stop it are on the right. I know it takes a lot of courage to go against your ‘tribe’ or whatever it is but that’s what we need, we need some decent people on the right to show some courage -– and some common sense.”
Kimmel added to more applause, “And if our leaders aren’t even trying to reduce the amount of chaos in the street rather than exacerbating it, if our leaders are intentionally creating and encouraging violence and fear, then I hope you will also agree, we need new leaders. Because these are not leaders.”
Image credits: Alex Kormann/Getty Images
“And to the people of Minneapolis – to the Pretti family and the Good family and these people who were looking out for their neighbors, we want you to know that we are with you and you are not alone,” he added, all choked up, “I’ll tell you another thing — we also want to see those Epstein files already.”
Kimmel ended his monologue by calling Pretti “the man Stephen Miller referred to as a would-be assassin.”
“Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse who treated veterans, which is about as patriotic as it gets.” Fighting back tears, Kimmel played a video of Pretti honoring a patient of his, a veteran, who had passed away.
“Alex Pretti, may he rest in peace,” Kimmel said, paying tribute to him.
