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Jimmy Fallon made his return to “The Tonight Show” on Monday to talk about the blackface controversy that arose over the last week.
What happened:
- A clip from a “Saturday Night Live” sketch surfaced on social media last week, almost 20 years after it first aired. Fallon impersonates Chris Rock, a black comedian, in the sketch.
- Fallon apologized for his actions on Twitter.
- He wrote: “In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface. 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.”
What’s new:
- On Monday night, Fallon said he promised “a different kind of show.” He said he would “start this personally, then expand out,” according to USA Today.
- He said: “That’s where we all need to start, with ourselves and looking at ourselves in the mirror. I had to really examine myself in the mirror this week because a story came out about me on ‘SNL’ doing an impression of Chris Rock in blackface. And I was horrified. Not of people trying to ‘cancel’ me or cancel this show, which is scary enough. The thing that haunted me the most was, how do I say I love this person?”
- He said: “I respect this guy more than I respect most humans. I’m not a racist. I don’t feel this way.”
- “I realized that I can’t not say I’m horrified and I’m sorry and I’m embarrassed. I realized that the silence is the biggest crime that white guys like me and the rest of us are doing, staying silent. We need to say something. We need to keep saying something. And we need to stop saying ‘that’s not OK’ more than just one day on Twitter.”
- Fallon spoke with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson on the show, too.