Quinta Brunson interrupts Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue as payback for Emmys speech

Quinta Brunson interrupted Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue during his show after the late-night host crashed her Emmys 2022 acceptance speech for Abbott Elementary.

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday (14 September), Brunson walked onstage mid-way through Kimmel’s monologue, and said: “You know how when you win an Emmy, you only have 45 seconds to do an acceptance speech, which is like not that much time?

“And then someone does a dumb comedy bit that goes on a bit too long?”

Kimmel replied: “You know I have heard of that happening in previous years.”

He then gave Brunson the stage to continue her speech.

During Monday (12 September) evening’s award show, actor Will Arnett dragged the late-night talk show host onstage to present the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

Kimmel pretended to have passed out after drinking too many margaritas upon losing in his own category.

However, when the Abbott Elementary creator and star graced the stage to accept her first-ever Emmy for the category, Kimmel remained sprawled out on stage while she gave her speech.

“Jimmy, wake up, I won,” Brunson nudged, as she played along with the joke. But he remained where he was, leading many to accuse him of stealing the winner’s spotlight.

Kimmel faced heavy criticism online after gatecrashing Brunson’s speech.

However, Brunson later told press at the event that his bit “didn’t bother me too much”.

According to the Los Angeles Times, she added: “Honestly, Jimmy gave me my first late-night spot and was one of the first people to see Abbott and he Instagram messaged me that he saw this comedy and thought it was one of the greatest comedies of all time and he was so excited it was going to be on ABC.”

She also made a reference to her then-forthcoming interview with Kimmel on his show on Wednesday, quipping: “I’m gonna be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face.”

Meanwhile, Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph had a slightly different reaction to Kimmel lying down during Brunson’s speech.

Ralph, who received her own Emmy for the sitcom with a rousing song and speech, addressed the matter during a Q&A panel discussion on Wednesday with TV critics.

“I was like, ‘Oh, the disrespect, Jimmy,’” Ralph recalled, as reported by the Associated Press.

She also sarcastically referred to it as “lovely that he was lying on the floor during her wonderful acceptance speech.

“I told him too, to his face, and he understood,” said Ralph, who won the best supporting comedy actress award for her role as Barbara Howard in the warm-hearted, workplace comedy set in a Philadelphia school.