CELEBRITIES Fallon: I didn’t mean to ‘normalize’ Trump
Jimmy Fallon is still coping with the fallout from the Sept. 15, 2016, episode of “The Tonight Show,” the program when the late-night host reached out and ruffled the hair of future President Donald Trump.
At the time, Trump, the Republican nominee, was viewed as a long shot for the White House. Less than two years later, with Trump in the White House, the softball questions Fallon lobbed at the real estate mogul-turned-politician look worse.
“I did not do it to ‘normalize’ him or to say I believe in his political beliefs, or any of that stuff,” Fallon told The Hollywood Reporter.
That’s what it looked like, though, for the apolitical talk show host, viewers and pundits said in the days following.
“It just got bigger and out of control,” Fallon said. “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 till seven at night, and I’m just trying to make a funny show.”
To his friends and colleagues, Fallon insisted they should have known him better.
“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,” he said.
“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.’ ”