Kimmel Chokes Up Over Lion's Death
Late night host pleads for positive response to death of protected African lion Cecil.
YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live
The usually jovial Jimmy Kimmel got choked up talking about Cecil the Lion on his talk show Tuesday. Cecil, who was being tracked by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), was illegally hunted and killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist who claims not to have known that the lion was protected.
In his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel denounced the partially facetious social media buzz asking for the hunter to be fed to lions out of revenge. “I think it’s important to have some good come out of this disgusting tragedy,” he said before flashing the WildCRU website on screen. Kimmel visibly fought back tears as he pleaded with viewers to donate instead of stew about it.
It’s possible that Kimmel’s plea worked too well; as of Wednesday morning, the WildCRU site was down, very likely due to an overflow of traffic.