Jimmy Fallon got his big break when he joined the cast of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in the mid-90s. After being on SNL for almost six years and appearing in many great movies, his career changed for the better when he got to host his own late-night talk show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, from 2009 to 2014.
Since 2014, Fallon has been the host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and has become a beloved TV personality. Fallon’s down-to-earth and charismatic personality on the show has charmed viewers all over the world and earned him plenty of award nominations throughout the year. But, just like Ellen Degeneres, recent claims seem to prove that Fallon is not as wholesome behind the scenes as he seems to be when the cameras are rolling.
This Actress Called Out Jimmy Fallon’s Toxic Behavior Years Ago
Although they’re known to be close friends, Tina Fey once talked about Jimmy Fallon’s toxic workplace behavior. In her 2013 memoir, Bossy Pants, Fey shared the story of a tense interaction between the late-night talk show host and Amy Poehler back in their SNL days. Apparently, the two had an argument over one of Poehler’s “vulgar” jokes but Fallon took it too far with his response.
“Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to start,” Fey wrote in her book. “Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.’”
She then added: “Jimmy Fallon [.] turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.’ Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t care if you like it.’ Jimmy was visibly startled.”
Although Poehler went back to joking around with the rest of the cast, Fey noted that “a cosmic shift took place” in the writer’s room after this interaction. To social media users, this story seems to be proof enough that Fallon has always been toxic behind the scenes.
Tonight Show Employees Revealed Behind The Scenes Details, Including The Purpose Of A Crying Room
In a recent piece for Rolling Stone, a former employee of The Tonight Show revealed that Jimmy Fallon tends to be “dismissive and irritable” to his workers “during production meetings.”
Allegedly, everyone working behind the scenes knows that there are “good Jimmy days,” where Fallon is witty and charming, and “bad Jimmy days,” where the host is the complete opposite.
More than 10 former employees admitted that The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has been a toxic workplace for several years now. While everyone knows that working in the production of a late-night show is not the easiest job in the world, this particular show is extremely challenging due to Fallon’s “erratic behavior” behind the scenes.
Employees described The Tonight Show as a tense workplace with a “pretty glum atmosphere.”
Some workers even alleged that they’re often belittled and intimidated by their bosses, including Fallon himself. Many claim to be afraid of the host’s sudden outbursts and unexpected behavior. To make matters worse, nothing changes after voicing their concerts to HR.
The environment is so toxic that workers often refer to the guests’ dressing rooms as “crying rooms” where they can go hide and decompress when they’re upset about the way they’re treated.
“It’s a bummer because it was my dream job,” a former employee told Rolling Stone. “Writing for late-night is a lot of people’s dream jobs, and they’re coming into this and it becomes a nightmare very quickly. It’s sad that it’s like that, especially knowing that it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Jimmy Fallon Responded To Claims About Being Toxic Behind The Scenes At The Tonight Show
After facing plenty of backlash and being compared to Ellen Degeneres, Jimmy Fallon finally responded to the allegations saying he’s created a toxic workplace on The Tonight Show.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, shortly after the allegations went viral, the late-night talk show host scheduled a Zoom meeting with all his staff to apologize to them.
“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon reportedly said. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends … I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.” Fallon claimed that he never intended to “create that type of atmosphere for the show.” Instead, he wanted “the show to be fun, [it] should be inclusive to everybody.” According to the employees, he added, “It should be the best show.”
Fans are not sold on the sincerity of Fallon’s apology. The only thing he could do to clear his name at this point would be to make an effort to change things in the scenes at his show. But given that, as of today, The Tonight Show is not filming new episodes due to the ongoing writers’ strike, it might take a while for this to happen.
Source: NewsFinale
