Petting Donald Trumpās hair was probably not the best idea, Jimmy Fallon is ready to admit. The Tonight Show host sat down with the New York Times to talk over his ratings drop and the fallout from the Trump interview that found the late-night host tickling the presidentās scalp and asking him a set of goofy, softball questions. āI didnāt do it to humanize him,ā Fallon told the Times. āI almost did it to minimize him. I didnāt think that would be a compliment: āHe did the thing that we all wanted to do.āā Thatās not the read many viewers had on the moment, though. Critics blasted Fallon for going easy on the then-presidential candidate, who at the time had recently refused to say if he believed President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. The fallout from the segment was tough on Fallon, who admits heās a people pleaser.
For Mr. Fallon, who lives a portion of every day online, the hate felt inescapable.
āI go, I just canāt read Twitter,ā he said. āThen I canāt read the news. I canāt read the internet.ā
Speaking in a quiet, tentative tone, Mr. Fallon seemed to be reliving the experience as he recounted it.
āIām a people pleaser,ā he said. āIf thereās one bad thing on Twitter about me, it will make me upset. So, after this happened, I was devastated. I didnāt mean anything by it. I was just trying to have fun.ā
The Timesā piece ties Fallonās infamous Trump interview to his more politically incisive competitor Stephen Colbertās rise in the ratings. In an email to the Times, Tina Fey commented that going too hard on Trump is outside of Fallonās humor. āJimmy is not a political comedian, so it would be very phony of him to go out and do long political joke rants just because thatās what some people want,ā she said. āThe Tonight Show has historically been a friendly, light show.ā Thatās how Fallon said heād like to keep it ā but he does wish he addressed the Trump hair moment during the heat of the fallout. āI didnāt talk about it, and I should have talked about it,ā Fallon told the Times. āI regret that.ā
Revisit Fallonās interview below.