Jimmy Kimmel Let the Silenced Valedictorian Finish His Speech

A high school valedictorian whose graduation speech was abruptly cut off got national media attention this week, but on Tuesday night he enjoyed a much bigger platform: Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Before the late night host gave Peter Butera some key airtime via Skype on Tuesday’s episode, he played a clip showing the Penn senior class president criticizing the school when faculty shut down his microphone and escorted him offstage on Friday.

“Whoever cut that mic off should not be in charge of education of any kind,” Kimmel said before chatting with the Villanova-bound student. “Why were they so mad at you for that Peter?” Kimmel asked him. “I went off script,” he said, explaining he went rogue with remarks he didn’t clear with the school because he felt they wouldn’t let him say them.

Kimmel joked that his comments had only amounted to a 2-star Yelp review, before handing it over to the student who made his final remarks to the delight of the audience.

Watch the full clip above.