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Tina Fey’s account of tense moment between Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon resurfaces amid ‘toxic’ workplace claims

September 12, 2023 | | Print Article

Controversy regarding the alleged “toxic” work environment fostered by late-night host Jimmy Fallon gave new weight to an old story recounted by a fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum.

Last week, Rolling Stone ran a piece on the host of “The Tonight Show” with accusations from a large array of current and former employees that charged “erratic” behavior from the host made for an “ugly environment behind the scenes.”

As the report circulated, Erin Overbey, archive editor for The New Yorker, brought up an excerpt from Tina Fey’s 2013 memoir “Bossypants” that she contended not only supported the accusations but showed the alleged behavior extended back some years.

“Tina Fey had Jimmy Fallon dead to rights more than a decade ago in her memoir Bossypants,” Overbey captioned the excerpt. “Will never forget this account about his exchange [with] Amy Poehler in an SNL writer’s room…”

According to Fey’s account, “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…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.'”

“Jimmy Fallon…turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it,” wrote Fey.

“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,” the excerpt continued. “Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit. With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not f*cking care if you like it.”

As previously reported, following the host’s prompt apology wherein he said, “It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” others spoke out in defense of Fallon.

“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,” a producer had told the Daily Mail. “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, about how he is an empathetic person, how he hears other people’s opinions, how he’s open to being flexible.”

That testimony and others stood in stark contrast to remarks made to Rolling Stone where one employee had said, “It was like, if Jimmy was in a bad mood, everyone’s day is f*cked. People wouldn’t joke around him in the office, and they wouldn’t stand around and talk to each other. It was very much like, focus on whatever it is that you have to do because Jimmy’s in a bad mood, and if he sees that, he might fly off.”

Since Thursday, Overbey’s post on X had been viewed nearly 6 million times and reposted almost 4,700 times. However, not everyone agreed that her takeaway supported the allegations against Fallon.

Kevin Haggerty
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