The Jimmy Fallon blackface controversy, explained
Jimmy Fallon is catching heat on social media over a resurfaced 2000 “Saturday Night Live” sketch featuring the former cast member in blackface.
The 45-year-old host of “The Tonight Show” went viral on Twitter overnight following a tweet with the hashtag #jimmyfallonisoverparty, and a 20-year-old “SNL” clip featuring Darrell Hammond and Fallon, face painted brown, doing an impersonation of Chris Rock.
The vintage skit, posted by @chefboyohdear, is captioned with the sentence, “NBC fired Megyn Kelly for mentioning blackface. Jimmy Fallon performed on NBC in blackface.”
The ensuing lament over the beloved broadcaster’s now-tarnished reputation was swift.
“I know I did not just open Twitter and see that Jimmy Fallon did blackface in 2000. Nobody is safe from Twitter when we got this much time in our hand. First Lana, then Doja Cat, and now Jimmy Fallon. Please let me catch my [breath]. #jimmyfallonisoverparty,” said a bewildered @ratgang48 on Twitter.
Representatives for Fallon did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Alas, the trending Twitter topic provided a moment to re-drag every other celeb who has worn blackface or engaged in racial epithets.
“So jimmy fallon is canceled for this but justin trudeau does it dozens of times throughout his youth and is still re-elected as PM. I don’t understand this planet,” said @kyriehugsloth.
“Hello RDJ anyone?? #jimmyfallonisoverparty,” wrote @nova_mare beside a GIF of Robert Downey Jr. in 2008’s “Tropic Thunder,” where he played a white actor who had been cast to play a black Vietnam soldier in an ill-fated period flick.
“[Unfortunately] this gets mentioned/tweeted about once a year without a peep of an apology from @jimmyfallon,” tweeted @thatchelseagirl, along with a link to a 2019 Jezebel.com article calling out Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman over their own long-past transgressions. Kimmel and Silverman, for their parts, responded to the controversies at the time of their resurfacing.
Some initial reactions were exasperation over so-called “cancel culture.”
“Y’all whack. How long ago was this? Was this [‘SNL’]? No one can be famous anymore bc we’ve all done something the society of 20 years from now doesn’t like🙄🙄 can we stop with trying to cancel people on their [past] and focus on the present?” argued @NancyLovesMJ.
“Well, Fallon shouldn’t have did what he did but hey guys . . . why not cancel Loren Michaels? He approved the sketch. Too, LM has a problem giving POC and WOC a seat at [the ‘Saturday Night Live’] table for the last 50 years,” asked @_rockN_rolla.
