After Jimmy Kimmel gave an emotional monologue on Monday night, people reacted with support for the comedian and his family. Usually, the host comes on stage and speaks briefly to get his studio audience and television audience to laugh. Monday night's monologue was different. Other than being longer, it was a heartfelt one from Kimmel about his baby who was born with a heart condition.
The monologue
During the 13-minute monologue, the 49-year-old host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" gave a detailed story about what happened immediately after the birth of his second child with wife Molly.
William John, who is being called Billy, was born on April 21. Shortly thereafter, an observant nurse noticed that there was something wrong with the infant because he was beginning to turn blue. After tests were done, it was discovered that Billy had a heart condition that required immediate surgery.
Billy was transported by ambulance from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he was born to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles where doctors performed the first of three open heart surgeries that Billy will need. The first surgery was successful, and Billy went home after six days to be his loving parents and big sister, two-year-old Jane. After six months, the baby will need another Open Heart Surgery, and the final one will be anytime during his teenage years.
Health care
Kimmel was also emotional when he used his monologue to talk about health care for babies like Billy. He made an appeal for the continuation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. He said parents should never have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. That caught the attention of former President Barack Obama who tweeted about Kimmel's son and offered support for Billy and other sick kids.
Hillary Clinton also tweeted her support.
Reaction from celebrities
There has been a tremendous amount of support toward Jimmy and his family from his celebrity friends. Sharon Osbourne of the Daytime Emmy winner "The Talk" spoke out about how Jimmy handled the news and how he reported it to his fans after returning to his show on Monday night.
There have been hundreds of tweets and comments on social media as people said they are praying and sending positive thoughts toward the Kimmel family. Jimmy's friends such as Ellen DeGeneres, Seth Meyers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Josh Groban, and Tom Bergeron tweeted their support. Carol Burnett also made an emotional statement about Jimmy's family crisis.
Jimmy's show
The host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was absent all last week and now people know why. He is taking the rest of this week off to be with his family. However, instead of reruns of the show, guest hosts are helping out their friend. On Tuesday night, Will Arnett filled in as host. The line up for the rest of the week includes Anthony Anderson on Wednesday night, Kristen Bell on Thursday night, and David Spade on Friday night.
