He's the lovable host of The Tonight Show, but beneath his well-tailored suit and big
grin, it looks like Jimmy Fallon has a shady side.
From his alleged alcoholism, to his racially insensitive humor, here's a closer look at
the funnyman's more questionable antics.
In 2014, Jimmy Fallon's Saturday Night Live co-star, Horatio Sanz, claimed the affable
comic had a penchant for booze.
Sanz told Vulture,
"[We] were superfunctioning alcoholics, definitely.
They say that kind of goes hand in hand with SNL, some kind of substance-abuse issues,
because it's so stressful you easily find yourself blowing off steam a lot."
"People ask me where's your Best of SNL, and I'm like, it's Jimmy's…I wouldn't have one
without you, right?"
Sanz didn't intend to cast a shadow on his friend, but as Fallon's fame continues to
grow, an increasing number of folks have suggested that drinking could be negatively undercutting
Fallon's so-called "superfunctioning" abilities.
"Fallon's drinking has reportedly been a cause for concern here at The Tonight Show."
The comedian's alleged drinking exploits aren't just relegated to stories by his friends and
former castmates, however.
A Manhattan bartender dished some dirt to the New York Post about a time in 2009 that
Fallon partied at a bar until 5:30 the next morning.
She said,
"He's a mess.
I love him.
Everything you've heard [about his behavior] is true."
"Is this ok?
Well, yeah I think we're allowed to do it, you're Harrison Ford…we're allowed to do
whatever we wanna do."
But Fallon has denied that he has a drinking problem in a 2017 interview with The New York
Times, saying,
"I could never do a day-to-day job if I was drinking every night.
That's just kicking you when you're down."
Fallon narrowly escaped a bar brawl in the East Village while partying with friends after
a show in 2014.
A spy told Page Six,
"There was some hostility from some people at the bar.
Jimmy was not the aggressor, but he was caught up in it.
It was broken up and Jimmy and his friends immediately left."
The next night, the tab reported that Fallon partied until the wee hours at a different
bar, ordering vodka shots for everyone.
Horatio Sanz has also waxed poetic about Fallons' fighting skills, remembering via Vulture,
"Yeah, we got in a couple of brawls.
I've seen Jimmy clock a few people."
"You wanna do this?
Bring it on."
Sanz recalled the time Fallon supposedly poured beer on someone's hat, thinking it belonged
to Sanz's friend.
It didn't.
When the guy who actually owned the hat confronted Fallon, Sanz claimed,
"Jimmy just punched him.
He wasn't that hurt; he just walked into a tornado of drunken stupidity.
Yeah, Jimmy could fight.
I don't know where he learned, but he definitely scrapped with the best of them."
While it's no secret that Fallon likes to unwind after work, his possible penchant for
winding up suggests that the lovable late-night host may be hiding a mean streak.
Sam Jones photographed Fallon and fellow late-night TV hosts for a September 2015 spread in Vanity
Fair titled "Host-to-Host Sensation."
In the story's accompanying photograph, ten hosts are gathered together, all dressed in
suits with a drink in their hands.
The gaggle includes Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, Trevor Noah, and more.
But out of all of them, Fallon is the only person without a beverage.
About the shoot theme, Jones told the New York Post,
"The Jimmy thing was a little interesting, because I don't know that everyone got the
memo that we were going to have drinks.
We ended up shooting that a few different ways and […] in the end he decided, 'I don't
want to have a drink in the picture.'"
Some viewed that decision as a shady attempt to cover-up Fallon's drinking antics beneath
a squeaky-clean photoshoot.
A Tonight Show insider told the New York Post that Fallon may be secretly struggling with
the success of his show.
"Happy fifth anniversary!
Yaaaaay!"
The source claimed,
"There is so much money at stake, the pressure is enormous.
[Besides doing the show daily], they're looking for the next viral thing to hit.
He has to do calls with affiliates and sponsors.
He has no outlet.
He's young.
He's still learning.
You forget he hasn't been doing this 10 years."
"Are we done?
This day is so weird.
It's freaking me out."
But if Fallon truly is leading a double life, he wouldn't be the first late-night host to
do so.
Photographer Sam Jones told the New York Post,
"There's a sort of loneliness to being a late night host."
David Letterman was notoriously private about his personal life until a scandalous extortion
attempt forced him to come clean about his problems on air.
"Between the psychiatrist and the daytime drinking, I'll be fine."
Fallon is a married man and father of two, so suggestions that he may be living some
sort of shady double life could simply reflect a desire to preserve some boundaries between
his personal and professional lives.
In February 2019, multi-hyphenate Nick Cannon took to Instagram to slam several white comedians
for donning blackface.
The post included Jimmy Fallon who wore it on Saturday Night Live to impersonate Chris
Rock.
Cannon captioned his post:
"Happy 'BLACKFACE' History Month!!!
I'm sure we can expect some more 'Apologies' by Monday […]"
In a follow-up post, Cannon detailed why the practice is offensive.
He explained,
"BlackFace and Racism are rooted in and are byproducts of the Institutionalized Oppression
of a subjugated people.
These recent revealings of people painting themselves black or brown and speaking in
broken slang in an attempt to be humorous or have fun; as if our culture is some sort
of party trick or costume is unacceptable."
Fallon had an additional cringeworthy moment while hosting the 2017 Golden Globes with
yet another awkward impression of Chris Rock.
Fusion's Isha Aran wrote in her recap of the show,
"For some reason, Jimmy Fallon decided that the awards show was the right moment to do
a drunken impression of Chris Rock telling a joke about The People v. OJ Simpson.
For some reason, NBC was into the idea.
For good measure, the network cut to a bunch of black people in the audience while Fallon
was doing his bit, as if to say, 'It's OK!
Really!'"
"Are you kidding me?
Just a big hunk of racist dirt."
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