What was supposed to be a joke about the U.S. government’s national debt on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has erupted into a nationwide protest and calls for the late-night TV funnyman’s ouster.

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, shown here getting a star on the Walk of Fame, has apologized for the segment. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

On Oct. 16, ABC aired a segment of the show titled, “Kids Table”, in which Kimmel asked a group of children what the U.S. should do about the $1.3 trillion it owes to China. One child offered the idea to “kill everyone in China.”

“Kill everyone in China? Ok, that’s an interesting idea,” Kimmel said in the show. He seemingly scoffs at the child’s suggestion, but later asks the group, “Should we allow the Chinese to live?”

Many viewers took issue with the segment, as evidenced by a petition that calls for the Obama administration to investigate the show. It had more than 104,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening. Protests have reportedly been held in several cities, including at the ABC headquarters in Burbank and the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, where the show is taped.

ABC and Kimmel have since issued an apology.

“The simple fact is, the segment should never have been broadcast,” an ABC statement read. “Systems we have in place for these types of things did not function properly, and steps have been made to try and prevent this kind of egregious mistake from occurring in the future.”

Some feel that the network’s response has been off-target. Tom Hayashi, executive director of the OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, which has a chapter in Los Angeles, said it’s understandable that Asian Pacific Islanders (API) are still upset.

“I can’t necessarily say the same thing about ABC executives,” he said. “In recent conversations, I’m not really sure they get it.”

Hayashi said the segment went beyond offending the community after one of the children in the segment readily suggested “genocide as a geopolitical economic solution.” He said the children, one of whom was an Asian American girl, and their families were not properly debriefed after the taping.

“Given that there were children involved in this case, we feel very strongly that a regulatory agency like the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] has a responsibility to ensure that when children are recruited … there should be an appropriate debriefing,” Hayashi said. “We’re concerned about not just what was said but also what happened and what implications this may have any other time a child may say something regrettable.”

He said the OCA did not organize the rallies and protests, but the organization has “started a conversation” with the FCC and the White House. OCA representatives also plan to meet with ABC network executives, though a date has not yet been scheduled, Hayashi said. He said the organization hopes the meeting is “productive” and specific on how to address its members’ concerns.

Hayashi said the group would also like a “proper” apology. He said the two apologies offered by Kimmel did not indicate how he planned to prevent such an occurrence from happening again, and network statements have not been specific enough.

“It really didn’t acknowledge what had happened and why it was wrong,” Hayashi said.

However, he stressed that the OCA was not calling for Kimmel’s firing, which would be “sort of unrealistic.” Nor is the organization trying to “beat up” on the network, Hayashi said.

“We’re not just throwing rocks at them, in a sense,” he said, adding that the OCA hopes to engage in dialogue that makes sense and builds a relationship. Hayashi said the organization wants to offer to be a resource for the network.

He said the Kimmel segment is not the first time the organization has voiced concerns about jokes on late-night talk shows. Hayashi added that the OCA had conversations with representatives of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, which had repeatedly aired jokes about Asians eating dogs until about a year ago.

“We know that the disparaging characterizations against API [people] is unfortunately a commonplace in the media,” he said. “I think that non-scientifically, I would have to say that might explain why … API students in schools are twenty percent more likely to be bullied.”

Hayashi said one individual has contacted OCA about his supervisor harassing him at work about Asians eating dogs. He said such comments are inappropriate, but some people “don’t even think twice” when it comes to such statements about Asians.

The OCA executive director said he sincerely hopes that the network takes advantage of the “teachable moment.” He said the students in the segment should have learned not to talk about certain races in a demeaning manner in kindergarten.

“It goes to show you you’re never too old and never too big to learn these lessons,” Hiyashi added.

According to the ABC statement, the network believes that it has taken steps to mitigate the issue.

“We have strengthened our review process and several new safeguards have been put in place to both our broadcast standards and practices and entertainment programming areas to ensure that segments like this are immediately brought to the attention of appropriate senior executives who can address them appropriately,” the statement reads. “We have also done everything in our power to ensure that the segment receives no further exposure. We issued a written apology, the offending skit has been edited out of any future broadcast of that episode; we have taken down the clip from all of our online platforms; and the show has decided to forego any future segments of ‘Kids Table.’”

It also referenced Kimmel’s on-air and written apologies, and said he has personally met with concerned citizens to hear their viewpoints and to apologize in person.

“Please know that we take our responsibility to our viewers extremely seriously, and are confident that the steps we’ve taken will prevent this type of issue from happening again,” the statement read.