Jimmy Fallon purportedly expressed regret to the personnel of NBC’s The Tonight Show shortly after RollingStone.com released an investigative report on the program’s supposedly detrimental work milieu. Rolling Stone conversed with 16 existing and previous employees of The Tonight Show whose accusations against Fallon varied from “unpredictable” eruptions to overt misbehavior directed at the staff. A few claimed that Fallon had rebuked them in front of their peers, whilst some contended that they had received passive-aggressive memos and confrontational electronic mails pertaining to their work’s caliber.
According to Tvline, Eight former employees suggest that Fallon’s mood was dependent on whether he was hungover. They also allude to instances of Fallon showing up to work with alcohol on his breath. (Fallon previously denied rumors that NBC was concerned about his drinking, telling the New York Times in 2017 that he “could never do a day-to-day job if I was drinking every night.”)
In a Thursday evening Zoom call with employees, Fallon apologized and said that he did not intend to “create that type of atmosphere for the show,” two people who were on the call told Rolling Stone.“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon reportedly said. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends… I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.”
Fallon’s tone on the Zoom call was described as “pretty earnest. The exposé from The Rolling Stone also shed light on The Tonight Show’s rapid turnover of nine showrunners in as many years, some of whom were accused of making inappropriate comments and displaying aggressive behavior.
In a recent Zoom call with employees, Fallon applauded the current showrunner Chris Miller as a “remarkable leader.” Miller, who also participated in the call, sent an email separately to the Tonight Show staff to “address prior accusations of unsuitable conduct on the show. According to Rolling Stone expose, he wrote, “I disagree with the portrayal depicted in the article as it does not accurately represent the general atmosphere of our exceptional team, which I feel extremely fortunate and honored to work with every day.” “The place described in the article is not the place I know.”