Barack Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday and kept things lighthearted save for a discussion of recent events in Ferguson , Missouri . After poking fun at himself by reading mean tweets people have written about him among other self-deprecating bits , Obama reflected on Wednesday night 's shooting of two police officers in racially tense Ferguson , Missouri , just days after he had delivered a speech on racial healing in Selma , Alabama . 'Whoever fired those shots should not detract from the issue - they are criminals , they need to be arrested . And then what we need to do is make sure that like-minded , good-spirited people on both sides - law enforcement , who have a terrifically tough job , and people who understandably do n't want to be stopped and harassed just because of their race - that they are able to work together to come up with some good answers . ' Barack Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday and kept things lighthearted save for a discussion of recent events in Ferguson , Missouri . The president simultaneously addressed the Justice Department 's findings about police behavior in Ferguson that led up to last summer 's mass protests . 'What had been happening was questionable and objectionable and should have been protested , ' the president said . He went on to refer to findings that the town had intentionally targeted African American citizens for ticketing and arrest largely as a means of making money . 'There was a whole structure , according to the justice department , that indicated racism ' he said . The president was careful to hedge his bets between protesters and police , though . 'In the same way you ca n't generalize about police officers ... you ca n't generalize against protesters , ' he said , while maintaining firmly that those who fired at police were criminals and the exception to the rule . First sitting president on the show : The president was in Los Angeles to attend a Democratic fundraiser when he swung by Jimmy Kimmel Live . In Washington , President Barack Obama had already taken to Twitter to relay his prayers to the officers and to denounce violence against police . 'Path to justice is one all of us must travel together , ' Obama wrote , signing the tweet with his initials to indicate the president personally composed it . The shootings marked the first time in more than seven months of tension in Ferguson that officers were shot at a protest , and the bloodshed threatened to inflame the already fraught relationship between police and protesters just as the city seeks reforms in the wake of a withering Justice Department report on racial bias in its law-enforcement practices . The attack also seemed to create another layer of race-related mistrust after a week in which an unarmed young black man was killed by a white officer in Madison , Wisconsin , and a University of Oklahoma fraternity chapter was thrown off campus after a video surfaced showing members singing a racist chant . In Washington , President Barack Obama took to Twitter to relay his prayers to the officers and to denounce violence against police . 'Path to justice is one all of us must travel together , ' Obama wrote , signing the tweet with his initials to indicate the president personally composed it . Attorney General Eric Holder said the gunman was ' a damn punk ' who was 'trying to sow discord in an area that was trying to get its act together , trying to bring together a community that had been fractured for too long . ' Obama 's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel came hours after wo police officers were shot early Thursday morning in front of the Ferguson Police Department during a protest following the resignation of the city 's police chief . Police watch from the parking lot as demonstrators protests in front of the police station on March 12 , 2015 in Ferguson , Missouri . While tensions continued in the St. Louis suburb , Obama made his way to Los Angeles for a Democratic fundraiser .
The magazine commented on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday and did nothing lighthearted save for a discussion of recent events in Ferguson , too .