The Web by no means forgets, and Jimmy Fallon was reminded of that reality Wednesday when 20-year-old footage of him impersonating Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live surfaced prompting requires his firing. In response, Fallon issued an apology on Twitter saying “In 2000, whereas on SNL, I made a horrible choice to do an impersonation of Chris Rock whereas in blackface. There is no such thing as a excuse for this. I’m very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive choice and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
In 2000, whereas on SNL, I made a horrible choice to do an impersonation of Chris Rock whereas in blackface. There is no such thing as a excuse for this.
I’m very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive choice and thank all of you for holding me accountable.
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) May 26, 2020
The clip, which has been scrubbed from NBC’s web site, has Fallon doing a reasonably cringe-worthy parody of Chris Rock as a visitor on Reside! with Regis and Kathie Lee, with Darrell Hammond enjoying Regis Philbin. Variety notes that the footage was tweeted out by a person @chefboyohdear with the caption “NBC fired Megyn Kelly for mentioning blackface. Jimmy Fallon carried out on NBC in blackface.”
It is price nothing that Kelly, the face of NBC’s family-oriented morning present, had a long history of making racially charged and insensitive remarks, and her eventual firing was due partly to her insistence that blackface needs to be OK for Halloween costumes (it is not), not merely mentioning it. Fallon, however, is a comic — one of some who’ve crossed the blackface line and later issued an apology, including Sarah Silverman.
NBC has but to make an announcement.
Blackface apart, this is not the primary fiasco Fallon’s confronted lately: in 2016, Fallon was slammed by many who noticed his lighthearted interview and hair-tousling with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as minimizing Trump’s historical past of racist and sexist remarks.
Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Present with Jimmy Fallon