Jimmy Kimmel says Fox News is “manufacturing outrage” over jokes related to the cartoon show Paw Patrol.
The animated children’s TV series features a crew of dogs serving in various capacities. One of the characters, Marshall, is a firefighter, while another, Skye, is a helicopter rescue dog.
The show also includes a dog named Chase, who works as a police officer and wears a uniform.
Following widespread protests against police brutality and racism across the US, a debate took place as to the portrayal of law enforcement in TV programmes. Long-running shows such as Live PD and Copshave been cancelled.
Amid the conversation about portrayals of police on TV, some on social media joked that Paw Patrol, since it depicts a cop, should experience the same fate.
Those posts were overwhelmingly tongue-in-cheek, but have been misconstrued by some as an actual campaign to get the animated series off the air.
Kimmel devoted part of his late-night show on Monday to this phenomenon, pointing to Fox News and stating: “Fox News, by the way – I think they might be disappointed that there’s no looting going on anymore, because they have a new focus to distract us from reality, and that is manufacturing outrage in response to a non-existent movement to cancel the show Paw Patrol.”
He then played a series of excerpts from various Fox News statements that sought to depict the alleged campaign to cancel Paw Patrol as a case of cancel culture gone too far.
The reel ended with a clip of a man saying on The Daily Briefing With Dana Perino: “We should point out that there actually doesn’t appear to be any genuine effort to cancel Paw Patrol.”
Kimmel laughed, adding: “Yes, you should. And so then why are you all talking about it all the time? There’s real stuff to be mad about, you know.”
