Jimmy Fallon‘s story about being a toxic boss has gotten a bit murkier, and this time around, not even Jerry Seinfeld can save him.
The talk host was said to have been blindsided last week when members of his staff decided to share their truths in a lengthy piece published in Rolling Stone.
This week, Jimmy Fallon is getting knocked out of the entertainment ring by the queens of comedy. A passage featured in Tina Fey‘s autobiography Bossypants is once again getting a lot of traction, for it details a heated and condescending exchange between Jimmy and Amy Poehler.
In the book, Fey explained how Jimmy Fallon scolded Poehler like a child during a table read for Saturday Night Live.
Fey revealed that Fallon yelled at Poehler and added: “Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to start. Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.'”
The filmmaker went on to share: “Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it,’ Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f–king care if you like it.'”
She revealed how Poehler fought back against the sexist comment from Fallon by writing: “Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not f–king care if you like it.”
The unearthed passage is making headlines as Jimmy Fallon deals with an Ellen DeGeneres-sized problem.
Current and former writers for the nightly talk show host spoke to Rolling Stone to say Fallon had a different personality, and it was hard to know which one would show up to work.
Staff members revealed they were uncomfortable around the comedian because he snapped at the littlest of things.
A person, who worked for the late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, said: “Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners,” recalled one former employee. You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit. Look how many showrunners went so quickly. We know they didn’t last long.”
One employee shared an incident where Fallon allegedly appeared drunk, crossed out jokes on a piece of paper, and later seemed to have forgotten about them.
The insider stated: “He couldn’t remember he had just crossed it out himself. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, he [seems] drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.’”
One ex-employee revealed that they became suicidal because of the anguish that was floating in the workplace.
The writer shared: “Mentally, I was in the lowest place of my life. I didn’t want to live anymore. I thought about taking my own life all the time.”
Fallon has since apologized to his employees, saying this during a Zoom meeting : “It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad. Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends … I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.”
Many famous friends have defended Jimmy Fallon including Jerry Seinfeld.
Seinfeld said when the scandal first broke: “This is so stupid. I remember this moment quite well. I teased Jimmy about a flub, and we all had a fun laugh about how rarely Jimmy is thrown off. It was not uncomfortable at all. Jimmy and I still occasionally recall it and laugh. Idiotic twisting of events.”
Fallon’s backers hope he will be able to weather the storm.
