Jimmy Fallon apologises for "unquestionably offensive" old clip of him performing in blackface
Jimmy Fallon has apologised for using blackface during his time on Saturday Night Live.
The US chat show host, who has fronted The Tonight Show since 2009, took to social media on May 26 to say he was "very sorry" for trying to imitate comedian Chris Rock on the NBC show 20 years ago, after the clip re-emerged online.
"In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface," Fallon tweeted. "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."
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Rock, who was a cast member on SNL himself in the early 1990s, has yet to comment.
The skit – which also features Darrell Hammond – had been circulating again on Twitter and led to #jimmyfallonisoverparty trending on the platform.
#jimmyfallonisoverparty if ur trying to see what he did pic.twitter.com/5K2eAH7Vjn
— s🅰️m🐀 (@chefboyohdear) May 26, 2020
Related: Marvel's Robert Downey Jr defends using blackface in Tropic Thunder
Back in October 2018, NBC cancelled Kelly's Megan Kelly Today show after she expressed her confusion over university boards actively trying to discourage students from appropriating other cultures for fancy dress events.
Elsewhere, fellow comic Sarah Silverman previously admitted that she is now "horrified" by a 2007 sketch on her TV series The Sarah Silverman Program in which she wore blackface.
"If you're doing [comedy] right, you look back at your old stuff and you're horrified," she explained. "I don't stand by the blackface sketch. I'm horrified by it, and I can't erase it.
"I can only be changed by it and move on."
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC in the US, and Sky Comedy in the UK.
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