Jimmy Fallon apologized after a resurfaced video of him wearing blackface sparked outrage on social media — although it wasn’t the first time the video had circulated online.
On Tuesday, a short video of the “Tonight Show” host impersonating Chris Rock in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch from 2000 went viral along with the hashtag #JimmyFallonIsOverParty on Twitter.
Fallon responded to the criticism in a tweet Tuesday evening. He said that wearing blackface was a “terrible decision” and “unquestionably offensive,” and he thanked those who condemned him “for holding me accountable.”
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.
— Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon) May 26, 2020
HuffPost reached out to “SNL” for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Before Fallon apologized, some people called for the comedian to be “canceled” due to the 20-year-old clip. Others said they’d prefer an explanation, an apology or even an acknowledgment of wrongdoing from Fallon.
“I wish, they do realize they have a 0% chance of even canceling him, right? This was 20 years ago and nowhere close to career-ending,” a user wrote.
Do you think Jimmy Fallon’s career should be canceled for this?
