Beyoncé was great and all, but Michael Phelps' reaction to Jimmy Fallon as Ryan Lochte was the winner for me #VMAs pic.twitter.com/azUDK6Cu81
— Breanne L. Heldman (@BreanneNYC) August 29, 2016
The VMAs may have been dominated by Beyonce and Rihanna, but amidst all of the heavily-costumed SLAY QUEENs, a late-night talk show host took the stage to do what he does best — make softball topical jokes about whatever famous person most recently made embarrassing news. And would you look at that, Ryan Lochte is still on the board! So Jimmy Fallon waltzed on stage in a white-blue wig and a tracksuit and did quite possibly the most mailed-in impression of his entire life before presenting the award for Video of the Year.
"I couldn't tell you even if there was a gun to my head." 🙊#VMAs https://t.co/L55barVLKU
— MTV (@MTV) August 29, 2016
#VMAs: Jimmy Fallon presents Video of the Year https://t.co/P3hkhhoKsk pic.twitter.com/Na8jl9Hm8u
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 29, 2016
Pretty much all Fallon did was lie about stuff, and silently plead with the audience, “Get it? Because Lochte lied? Like, do you get it?” Lochte’s former teammate and longtime friend Michael Phelps wasn’t in it for the subtlety, however – Fallon had him at “white-blue wig.” It’s like a Comedy Central Roast, when the jokes are too easy but if you know the subject well enough, you laugh anyway because it’s true and you’ve wanted to be that mean to your friend for forever.
At least there’s one definite positive from this moment: Now that Jimmy Fallon has done it, the internet can safely move on from making fun of Ryan Lochte.