Jimmy Fallon Addresses Orlando Club Shooting On ‘Tonight Show’: ‘What If My Kids Are Gay?’

Jimmy Fallon opted to talk about the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida, in lieu of a monologue during Monday night’s live episode of The Tonight Show.

Jimmy Fallon On Orlando Massacre

Fallon was visibly shaken by the senseless slaughter of 49 revelers at Pulse – a popular LGBT bar in Orlando. After noting the scale of the crime committed by the gunman, Fallon talked about the values that have made America what it is.

“As you know, early Sunday morning there was another senseless shooting, this time at a dance club in Orlando, Florida. A dance club. It left 49 people dead, which is the largest loss of life due to a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,” Fallon said. “This country was built on the idea that we do not all agree on everything. That we are a tolerant, free nation that encourages debate, free thinking, believing – or not – in what you choose.”

The Saturday Night Live alum went on to talk about his young daughters Winnie Rose and Frances Cole, and how he, as their father, struggles to figure out how to talk to them about such an atrocity.

“I, as a new father, am thinking: What do I tell my kids? What do I tell them about this? What can we learn from this?. What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them?” Fallon said. “Maybe there’s a lesson from all this. A lesson in tolerance. We need to support each other’s differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn’t live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them. Bomb them up. That is not okay.”

The host added, “We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions, and that’s okay. Because that’s what America is built on. The idea that we can stand up and speak our minds and live our lives and not be punished for that, or mocked on the internet. Or killed by someone you don’t know.”

In wrapping up his remarks, Fallon urged the people of Orlando to keep dancing. “This was just one bad guy here. Forty-nine good people, and one bad guy. There will always be more good than evil,” he said. “So keep loving each other, keep respecting each other and keep on dancing.”