A tense exchange between former Saturday Night Live (SNL) colleagues Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon has resurfaced and has gone viral after the latter was accused of fostering a "toxic" work environment.
A Rolling Stone report published on Thursday, which spoke to former and current staff members of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, described Fallon's alleged "erratic" behavior behind the scenes of the late night talk show.
Following the allegations, Erin Overbey, archive editor for The New Yorker, shared a passage to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday from Tina Fey's 2011 autobiography Bossypants. The post currently has 4.4 million views and recalls a time when Poehler shut Fallon down over comments he made at a read-through for an upcoming episode of SNL.
Fey rose to fame and became a household name alongside Poehler and Fallon on SNL.
"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', Jimmy Fallon [...] turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, 'Stop that! It's not cute! I don't like it,'" the passage began.
It continued: "Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. 'I don't f***** care if you like it.' Jimmy was visibly startled. Amy went right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit. With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. 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****** care if you like it."
Newsweek contacted Fallon and Poehler's representatives by email for comment.
Fallon's late night talk show has gone through nine showrunners in the past nine years, with some of the workers describing the conditions as a "pretty glum atmosphere" in Rolling Stone's report. Some also described feeling intimidated from their bosses and on occasions, even from Fallon himself.
The Tonight Show showrunner Chris Miller reportedly spoke with employees via a Zoom call on Thursday evening after the Rolling Stone article was published.
Employees told Rolling Stone that Fallon apologized to staff and told them it was not his intention to "create that type of atmosphere for the show."
"It's embarrassing and I feel so bad," he reportedly told the team. "Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends...I feel so bad I can't even tell you. I want the show to be fun, [it] should be inclusive to everybody. It should be the best show. There are things I've done in the past that are embarrassing but I never mistreated anybody."
While the Rolling Stone article painted Fallon and show bosses in a bad light, one current staffer spoke to People magazine and painted a different picture of the comedian.
The staffer who wished to remain anonymous told the celebrity news site that Fallon was "a really, really positive guy," and that it was "disheartening" to see "these old accusations being brought up again."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
