Jimmy Kimmel tears up on air while condemning Alex Pretti shooting
Jimmy Kimmel abandoned comedy altogether Monday night as he reacted to the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot by a US Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis, an incident that has ignited national anger after video footage surfaced online.
Opening Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel said he had spent the weekend struggling to process what he had seen. “I feel shocked and sick,” he told viewers, describing the shooting as impossible to reconcile with official claims that agents acted in self-defense. The footage, which spread rapidly across social media, appears to show Pretti unarmed at the time he was killed.
Kimmel’s response turned deeply personal as he explained that members of his family live in Minneapolis and are now fearful of daily life. He questioned whether such violence reflected the promise of “law and order” made by the Trump administration and asked how Americans are meant to trust leadership when incidents like this continue to occur.
“How does this end?” Kimmel asked. “Does anyone, on any side, think this is good leadership?”
🚨Wow! Jimmy Kimmel burst into tears while discussing Alex Pretti.
This is one of the most devastating but absolutely poignant moments I’ve ever seen from him.
It’s nice to see what a real human response to this bullshit looks like. Watch:
pic.twitter.com/pGF99bMH8bPretti’s death follows the fatal shooting of Renee Good earlier this month, also in Minneapolis, intensifying scrutiny of federal law enforcement operations in the city. In both cases, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized the victims as engaging in “domestic terrorism,” a description critics argue is contradicted by available video evidence. Noem said agents feared for their lives and fired defensively after attempting to disarm Pretti.
Kimmel rejected that explanation outright, urging viewers to rely on what they could see rather than political messaging. “It’s on video,” he said. “Watch it.”
The moment reached its emotional peak when Kimmel broke down on air, offering condolences to the Pretti and Good families and expressing solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. “You’re not alone,” he said through tears.
Other late-night hosts echoed his condemnation. Stephen Colbert lashed out at Border Patrol leadership, accusing the administration of fostering cruelty and moral decay. Seth Meyers described the shootings as evidence of government “barbarism,” while Jon Stewart accused officials of deliberately denying reality despite clear evidence.
At a White House briefing on Jan. 26, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump did not want to see Americans harmed and blamed the tragedy on resistance from Democratic leaders in Minnesota. She also said Trump had not personally referred to Pretti as a domestic terrorist and wanted investigations to determine the facts.
As outrage continues and investigations remain underway, the reaction from late-night television reflects a broader public reckoning, one fueled not by rumor or rhetoric, but by footage that many say speaks for itself.