Jimmy Kimmel Gets Choked up Over Cecil the Lion's Death

Jimmy Kimmel became emotional when discussing the death of Cecil the Lion, a famous Zimbabwe animal and tourist attraction, on Tuesday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

In a four-minute monologue, Kimmel sharply criticized Walter Palmer, the 55-year-old American dentist responsible for hunting and killing the animal.

Palmer and two hunters illegally killed the lion after luring it out of its home at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe on July 1.

After Palmer shot Cecil with a bow and arrow, the animal escaped and survived 40 more hours before the hunters tracked him down and shot him dead. The hunters later skinned and beheaded the carcass.

CNN reported that Palmer now regrets killing Cecil. In a statement, Palmer said he "had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt."

Kimmel responded to Palmer's statement with a pointed attack: “Stop saying you took the animal. You take aspirin … you killed the animal.”

The talk-show host questioned the motivation behind Palmer's killing of the lion, asking "How is that fun? Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things that are stronger than you?”

Kimmel went on to mock Palmer by comparing him to alleged rapist Bill Cosby, calling Palmer "the most hated man in America who never advertised Jell-O pudding on television.”

Palmer has also posed in photos with a number of other big game kills, including a bear, a leopard and a rhino. Kimmel showed the pictures during his monologue and joked that Palmer had "killed like half of Noah's Arc."

Kimmel got choked up toward the end of the monologue as he asked his audience to donate to wildcru.org, an organization that supports wildlife conservation. “Maybe we can show the world that not all Americans are like this jackhole,” he said about Palmer.

Kimmel isn't the only famous person to take Palmer to task for his killing of Cecil. Amid the huge social-media uproar, a number of other celebrities spoke out on the topic: