Slash was on the Tonight Show last night promoting his new solo album, and so it seemed strange that during his performance of “By the Sword,†there were hardly any close-ups of the top-hatted guitarist (there were more of the singer, Andrew Stockdale, and his weirdly morphed hair-beard). But then we noticed something on Slash’s guitar strap, and squinting, we could just make out a pin … no, it couldn’t be … not on Leno’s show!
Yes, folks, Slash had an “I’m with Coco†pin affixed to his guitar strap while performing on Jay Leno’s stage, which elevates Slash’s awesomeness to higher than it was, which was already really, really high. Watching the performance, you can see the cameras do anything they can not to get a close-up of the traitorous pin, which must have been a huge embarrassment to Leno, who seems to be grimacing as he introduces the song. Considering that many of the shots selected are so sloppy (catching other cameras in the shot), it seems likely that the show was edited to expunge all glimpses of Conan’s martyred head. (Though around 40:11 in the video below you can get a glimpse of it.) We called the Tonight Show, however, and a spokesperson responded, “We did not edit anything out of the performance,†and Slash’s reps didn’t respond to calls for comment. You be the judge.