Trump Slams Jimmy Fallon for Expressing Regret Over 2016 Interview: ‘Be A Man Jimmy!’
By Erin Nyren – LOS ANGELES (Variety.com)
In the Tweet, Trump told Fallon to “be a man” after, somewhat incoherently, asserting that Fallon was “whimpering” about the “hair show” — referring to the September 2016 episode of “Late Night” on which Trump guested — while privately calling Trump and lauding the episode’s “monster ratings.”
.@jimmyfallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous “hair show” with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have “humanized” me-he is taking heat. He called & said “monster ratings.” Be a man Jimmy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
responded hours later, saying that, in honor of the President’s tweet, he would be making a donation to RAICES Texas in President Trump’s name.
In honor of the President’s tweet I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name.
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) June 25, 2018
Trump’s Tweet refers to the outcry that occurred after Fallon had Trump on his show and playfully tousled the then-presidential candidate’s infamous hair. Observers accused Fallon of humanizing a person who encouraged hateful rhetoric.
“Jimmy Fallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous ‘hair show’ with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have ‘humanized’ me-he is taking heat,” the Tweet reads. “He called & said ‘monster ratings.’ Be a man Jimmy!”
Fallon expressed in a recent interview that he regretted the interaction with Trump, explaining that he didn’t mean to “normalize [Trump] or to say I believe in his political beliefs.”
In a column on the topic , Variety‘s then-TV critic Sonia Saraiya said the interview caused Jimmy Fallon to lose “the last shred” of “any credibility as a thinking comedian with a point-of-view” that he may have had left.