Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon has revealed that he ‘now regrets not talking about his interview with Trump sooner’.
In an interview with the New York Times, Fallon spoke about the backlash he faced after his September 2016 interview with the now US President, where he joked around with him and tussled his hair.
“I didn’t do it to humanize him. I almost did it to minimize him. I didn’t think that would be a compliment: ‘He did the thing that we all wanted to do”.
“I’m a people pleaser”, he continued, “If there’s one bad thing on Twitter about me, it will make me upset. So, after this happened, I was devastated…I was just trying to have fun”.
Since his NY Times was published just yesterday, Fallon received further criticism from fans, with one tweeting, “Of course Jimmy Fallon cares about ratings he just mistakenly thought he could get them by courting Trump voters and now he’s locked in”— @g_bluestone
Fortunately, fellow SNL alum and friend Tina Fey came to his defence, telling NY Times, “Jimmy is not a political comedian, so it would be very phony of him to go out and do long political joke rants just because that’s what some people want. The Tonight Show’ has historically been a friendly, light show”.