00:00Jimmy Kimmel is apologizing for a blackface impression he did of NBA star Karl Malone in the mid and late 1990s.
00:07The ABC Late Night host, who's currently taking a summer break from Jimmy Kimmel Live, issued the statement on Tuesday.
00:12It comes amid a continued reckoning in the entertainment industry over racist depictions of black people in the past.
00:18Kimmel said,
00:18Kimmel began doing the impression of Malone, then a player with the Utah Jazz, in the mid-90s on K-Rock Radio and continued it on TV, where he wore blackface makeup and a bald cap.
00:46A sketch from Comedy Central's The Man Show featuring the impression remains on YouTube.
00:51Kimmel also wrote in the apology that he's now embarrassed by many of the impressions he's done over the years, adding,
00:56It is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices.
01:02He went on to say,
01:03I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last 20 plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show.
01:09I know that this will not be the last I hear of this, and that it will be used again to try to quiet me.
01:13I love this country too much to allow that.
01:15I won't be bullied into silence by those who feign outrage to advance their oppressive and genuinely racist agendas.
01:21For the full statement from Kimmel and more on this story, head to THR.com.
01:25For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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