The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon still gets its viral moments from time to time, and you can’t deny the stand Fallon took with his appearances alongside the Stoneman Douglas students. But it still seems like the show and host can’t get out of the shadow of Donald Trump and the 2016 interview that seemed to be a breaking point ahead of the election.
As Fallon discusses in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, the Trump interview is still a monkey on his back and seems to be one of the factors harming his show in the ratings. He’s still defending himself:
“I did not do it to ‘normalize’ him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff…
“It just got bigger and out of control,” Fallon recalls, speaking in his office at 30 Rock. Then came the shots from Fallon’s colleagues. “I saw other comedians from other shows making fun of me on Twitter, and I go, ‘Okay, now I’m just gonna get off,'” he says. “They know the show. I’m just doing five hours a week. I get in at 10 in the morning, I work ’til seven at night and I’m just trying to make a funny show. [Addressing them:] ‘You know the grind and you know me. Of all the people in the world, I’m one of the good people — I mean, really. You don’t even know what you’re talking about if you say that I’m evil or whatever.’ But people just jump on the train, and some people don’t even want to hear anything else. They’re like, ‘No, you did that!’ You go, ‘Well, just calm down and just look at the whole thing and actually see my body of work.'”
The Hollywood Reporter adds that the fallout from the Trump interview resulted in a tumble in the ratings and heavy criticism from all sides. They also mention the New York Post report that claimed “boozing” was affecting Fallon and was actually the cause of some of his injuries in recent years. He actually seems to get emotional describing this period with the podcast:
“It was definitely a down time,” Fallon somberly says of the period after Trump’s last appearance on his show. “And it’s tough for morale. There’s 300 people that work here, and so when people are talking that bad about you and ganging up on you, in a really gang-mentality…” Choking up, he continues, “You go, ‘Alright, we get it. I heard you. You made me feel bad. So now what? Are you happy? I’m depressed. Do you want to push me more? What do you want me to do? You want me to kill myself? What would make you happy? Get over it.'” Fallon adds, “I’m sorry. I don’t want to make anyone angry — I never do and I never will. It’s all in the fun of the show. I made a mistake. I’m sorry if I made anyone mad. And, looking back, I would do it differently.”
Fallon wasn’t alone at NBC when it came to possibly “normalizing” Donald Trump. He just happened to be the last one to do it ahead of the election. By this point. Fallon’s 30 Rock neighbor SNL had been working to make up for allowing the future president to host in 2015. It’s still a fresh wound for many, especially with current events burning hotter by the day. The final results of Fallon’s chat with Trump and that hair tousle will have to wait until at least after a new president is elected.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
