Her Abbott Elementary costar had gone onstage to accept an award for her writing on the show, but the entire time, she had to stand over Jimmy, who had been lying on the ground as part of a joke that happened earlier in the evening.
While some were amused by the bit, others clearly were not, arguing that Jimmy had taken attention away from Quinta’s big moment.
Later, when Variety caught up to her, Quinta said the bit didn’t bother her “that much,” mentioning that she knew Jimmy and was even going to be on his show within a couple of days. But Sheryl, on the other hand, viewed it as “disrespect.”
“I was absolutely confused,” Sheryl told the press of the moment during a panel for the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
“I was like, ‘I wish that man would just get up off of the ground,” she continued. “And then I realized it was Jimmy Kimmel, and I was like, ‘Ooh, the disrespect, Jimmy!’ But that’s just me.”
Sheryl said she also spoke up and told Jimmy “to his face” what she thought about the moment. “And he understood,” she added.
Jimmy hasn’t yet commented on her remarks, but he did address the situation in general in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, explaining, “I had my eyes closed, I had no idea where I was. It was one of the weirdest things that’s ever happened to me.”
Jokes aside, I’m just proud of how gracefully Quinta handled the situation, when she honestly didn’t have to be.
