Fallon apologizes for blackface skit
Jimmy Fallon, the host of “The Tonight Show,” apologized on Tuesday for wearing blackface while impersonating fellow comedian Chris Rock on “Saturday Night Live” two decades ago.
“In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface,” Fallon said on Twitter. “There is no excuse for this. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
In a video of the sketch that recently resurfaced on social media, Fallon appears opposite Darrell Hammond, who was impersonating television host Regis Philbin.
Fallon wears a black turtleneck, a black leather jacket and a wig. His face is covered in dark makeup. He appears in the sketch for less than a minute.
“I’ve seen ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,’ and guess what? Not a lot of black folks on the show,” Fallon says in the skit, setting up his punchline.
“Know why? Because black folks don’t like to answer questions,” he continues. “Oh, they want to be millionaires, but you got to ask their kind of question, like, ‘In 1981, how many grams of crack did Rick James smoke when he recorded “Super Freak”?’ ”
Fallon declined to comment further on the sketch. Rock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The history of minstrel shows and movies where white performers donned blackface to mock blacks has made its use considered offensive today.
Fallon is not the only late-night talk show host with a blackface performance in his past. Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface to impersonate basketball star Karl Malone while on Comedy Central’s “The Man Show” 20 years ago.
According to Us magazine, actor and comedian Jamie Foxx spoke out in support of Fallon. Foxx defended Fallon in an Instagram comment.
“He was doing an impression of chris rock,” Foxx wrote. “It wasn’t black face. We comedians I know it’s a tough time right now. But this one is a stretch.”