ABC has already issued two public apologies over a racially insensitive Jimmy Kimmel Live sketch in which a child suggested the U.S. “kill everyone in China” to solve its debt problem in an unscripted moment, but that didn’t stop a Chinese official from demanding Monday that the network say sorry again — and this time, “with a sincere attitude.”
“ABC should face up to its mistake, and respond with a sincere attitude to the reasonable demands by Chinese people in America, and prevent a similar incident from occurring again,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The Oct. 16 sketch drew immediate public ire after Kimmel responded to the kid’s questionable debt solution by asking surrounding child actors, “OK, that’s an interesting idea… Should we allow the Chinese to live?”
ABC issued its first “sincere apology” on Oct. 28, noting that it would “never purposely do anything to upset the Chinese, Asian or other communities.” Kimmel also apologized on air and at a protest — which featured signs showing the talk show host sporting a Hitler-esque mustache — saying the clip should never have been aired.
The White House condemned the sketch in an online statement Nov. 7, after a petition against Kimmel garnered more than 100,000 signatures.