Late night host Jimmy Fallon shrugged off a question related to “toxic” work environment allegations after returning to the program after months off.
“Yeah, I’m happy to be back.”
Thursday, the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” was spotted at the opening of a new Broadway production when he was stopped for comments by Page Six. From the red carpet of “Gutenberg! The Musical!” Fallon fielded a question on the lingering scandal as though it related to the prolonged Hollywood strike that had stalled broadcasts like his own.
“How are you feeling after the last couple of months with what’s been going on for you?” asked a reporter from Page Six.
“I’m so happy to be back, I can’t even tell you. I missed the show so much,” the “Saturday Night Live” alum replied. “I miss interviewing everybody — I was just interviewing my wife for the past five months and she got bored of me, so she’s so happy that I’m out of the house. The show is back, we’re back to telling monologue jokes, making people happy. I’m so thankful and happy to be back.”
“Oh,” the reporter countered, “I just meant in terms of the news about your show, you personally, like, how you dealt with that.”
“Yeah, I’m happy to be back,” the host responded after shrugging, dismissive of the allegations, and walking away.
As previously reported, Fallon had been quick to issue an apology after Rolling Stone had run a story about alleged “hissy fits” and fostering of a “toxic” work environment that had supposedly driven employees to anxiety attacks and thoughts of suicide among the list of claims presented from interviews with over 50 former and current employees.
“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon had reacted to the allegations. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends…I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.”
“I want the show to be fun, [it] should be inclusive to everybody,” he was said to have continued. “It should be the best show.”
Following the initial claims against Fallon that included the remark, “It was like, if Jimmy is in a bad mood, everyone’s day is f*cked,” an account from Tina Fey’s 2013 memoir “Bossypants” was presented as support of the allegations, critiquing his behavior back to nearly two decades.
The excerpt had The New Yorker archive editor Erin Overbey suggesting, “Tina Fey had Jimmy Fallon dead to rights more than a decade ago,” regarding an exchange with Amy Poehler in the SNL writers’ room where she had done “something vulgar as a joke.”
“Jimmy Fallon…turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it,” Fey had written. “Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f*cking care if you like it.’ Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit.”
Claims about Fallon were not universal as one producer had told the Daily Mail, “From the day I walked in, I felt as if everybody was very energized and excited about creating a very positive workplace, especially Jimmy, and I work closely with him.”
“I’m with him on a daily basis. I have delivered bad news to him. I have disagreed with him about some things that he has wanted to do. I cannot say enough good things about him,” the producer went on, “about how he is an empathetic person, how he hears other people’s opinions, how he’s open to being flexible.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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