Kimmel Loves Austin
As a city reels, watch Jimmy Kimmel's simple and sweet love letter to Austin
There is no doubt that we are a different Austin today than we were a few days ago. There is a tangible hangover permeating the city, not from cans of Lone Star, but from watching tens of thousands of people roll into town and change our cultural landscape.
The countless fights, the public drunkenness, and the mass chaos that came from one man making a horrendous decision has left us changed, with a little more of our innocence stripped away.
It is tough to make much sense of the last 10 days. From the corporate sponsorship to Gaga's antics to SXSW's underlying culture of alcohol consumption, journalists have written countless op-eds, citizens have taken to social media all to ask, "What does it mean?"
Jimmy Kimmel doesn't answer any of that. He doesn't contextualize or analyze or attempt to be the first to get on record. Instead, during his fifth and final Austin taping at the Long Center, Kimmel spouts off the lessons he's learned about Austin. And while, yes, one must acknowledge the irony in Kimmel shooting his show from SXSW, this Californian (blasphemous, I know) spends a couple minutes sharing a few of the best things about us — from the greatness of a haircut accompanied by Lone Star to the kindness of our citizens.
