Jimmy takes a moment at the start of the show to address the events in #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/gCvv1OM8gq
— Fallon Tonight (@FallonTonight) August 15, 2017
On Monday night, Jimmy Fallon opened his show by giving a heartfelt speech on the violence that took place in Charlottesville, VA over the weekend.
“Even though The Tonight Show isn’t a political show, it’s still my responsibly to stand up against intolerance and extremism as a human being,” Fallon began.
He recalled watching news coverage and finding what he saw “disgusting” and it made him “sick to his stomach.”
“My daughters are in the next room playing and I’m thinking, ‘How can I explain to them that there’s so much hatred in this world?'” Fallon continued. “They’re two years old and four years old. They don’t know what hate is. They go to the playground and they have friends of all races and backgrounds. They just play and they laugh and they have fun. But as kids grow up, they need people to look up to show them what’s right and good. They need parents and teachers and they need leaders who appeal to the best in us.”
He went on to say that “the fact that it took two days” for the president to clearly denounce white supremacists “is shameful” and that he “finally spoke out” because “people everywhere stood up and said something.”
“It’s important for everyone, especially white people in this country, to speak out against this,” Fallon continued. “Ignoring it is just as bad as supporting it.”
He paid tribute to Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who was killed in the attack that left 19 others injured, saying “she died standing up for what’s right.”
“I can’t look at my beautiful, growing, curious daughters and say nothing when this kind of thing is happening,” Fallon said. “We all need to stand against what is wrong, acknowledge that racism exists, and stand up for what is right, and civil, and kind. And to show the next generation that we haven’t forgotten how hard people have fought for human rights. We cannot do this. We can’t go backward. We can’t go backward.”
Watch the clip above, via NBC.
