When being interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, late-night host Jimmy Fallon made it painfully clear that he doesn't know why his now infamous interview with Donald Trump made people angry. In the interview, Fallon said this:
"I did not do it to 'normalize' him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff. The criticism I faced just got bigger and out of control. I saw other comedians from other shows making fun of me on Twitter and I go, 'OK, now I'm just gonna get off.' 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. '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.'"
He added:
"It was definitely a down time. And it's tough for morale. There's 300 people that work there, and so when people are talking that bad about you and ganging up on you, in a really gang-mentality, 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.' 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."
I agree with Fallon on some points he makes, particularly the one about the mob-mentality in social media. Part of me also feels sorry for him since late-night comedians are now expected to be politically savvy and make sense out of the BS the actual "news" media puts forth on a daily basis. That's the world we live in, however. The main objective of shows like The Tonight Show is to stimulate laughter. But, as Fallon should know having worked as a member of the cast on Saturday Night Live for a number of years, that's not where things begin and end. While goofy fun is always welcome, when the moment calls for it, serious, satirical humor is as well. Also, while it may not seem fair to people like Fallon, so long as cable "news" networks provide slanted and/or softball interviews to politicians, comedians like him have a newfound responsibility to do their research on said politicians and take the interviews with them seriously. Jimmy Fallon's intent may not have been to normalize Donald Trump, but that's what he did. He followed the path of pretty much everyone in the media not named Stephen Colbert, saw Donald Trump's campaign as a joke, treated it as such, and here we are, a year and a half into Donald Trump's presidency. No, Jimmy Fallon shouldn't be this country's scapegoat when it comes to Trump rising to the top, and the social media mob is wrong if they insinuate as much, but he, like all other members of the media, needs to bear some responsibility; understand how late-night comedy has changed through the years; and start taking his role as a national voice more seriously.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/jimmy-fallon-says-public-ganged-up-on-him-post-donald-trump.html
"I did not do it to 'normalize' him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff. The criticism I faced just got bigger and out of control. I saw other comedians from other shows making fun of me on Twitter and I go, 'OK, now I'm just gonna get off.' 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. '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.'"
He added:
"It was definitely a down time. And it's tough for morale. There's 300 people that work there, and so when people are talking that bad about you and ganging up on you, in a really gang-mentality, 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.' 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."
I agree with Fallon on some points he makes, particularly the one about the mob-mentality in social media. Part of me also feels sorry for him since late-night comedians are now expected to be politically savvy and make sense out of the BS the actual "news" media puts forth on a daily basis. That's the world we live in, however. The main objective of shows like The Tonight Show is to stimulate laughter. But, as Fallon should know having worked as a member of the cast on Saturday Night Live for a number of years, that's not where things begin and end. While goofy fun is always welcome, when the moment calls for it, serious, satirical humor is as well. Also, while it may not seem fair to people like Fallon, so long as cable "news" networks provide slanted and/or softball interviews to politicians, comedians like him have a newfound responsibility to do their research on said politicians and take the interviews with them seriously. Jimmy Fallon's intent may not have been to normalize Donald Trump, but that's what he did. He followed the path of pretty much everyone in the media not named Stephen Colbert, saw Donald Trump's campaign as a joke, treated it as such, and here we are, a year and a half into Donald Trump's presidency. No, Jimmy Fallon shouldn't be this country's scapegoat when it comes to Trump rising to the top, and the social media mob is wrong if they insinuate as much, but he, like all other members of the media, needs to bear some responsibility; understand how late-night comedy has changed through the years; and start taking his role as a national voice more seriously.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/jimmy-fallon-says-public-ganged-up-on-him-post-donald-trump.html
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