Chris Rocks Says Jimmy Fallon ‘Didn’t Mean Anything’ By Using Blackface

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Chris Rock seems pretty chill about Jimmy Fallon wearing blackface to impersonate him back in 2000. Fallon faced major criticism for the resurfaced Saturday Night Live clip this past spring, but in a recent interview with the New York Times, Rock did not express concern. “Hey, man, I’m friends with Jimmy,” he said. “Jimmy’s a great guy. And he didn’t mean anything. A lot of people want to say intention doesn’t matter, but it does. And I don’t think Jimmy Fallon intended to hurt me. And he didn’t.” Back in May, Fallon apologized for the “offensive decision” in a tweet and followed-up in a June episode of The Tonight Show. “I’m not a racist. I don’t feel this way,” Fallon said on the show. “I realized that I can’t not say I’m horrified and I’m sorry and I’m embarrassed.”

Chris Rock, like his pal Dave Chappelle or his pal Kanye West, sounds more concerned with PC culture. Responding to whether or not pulling blackface performances from streaming services is going too far, he says “If I say they are, then I’m the worst guy in the world. There’s literally one answer that ends my whole career.” Meanwhile, people who have done blackface still have their careers. “Blackface ain’t cool, OK?” he clarifies to the Times, shortly before going back to his point. “That’s my quote. Blackface is bad. Who needs it? It’s so sad, we live in a world now where you have to say, I am so against cancer. ‘I just assumed you liked cancer.’ No, no, no, I am so against it. You have to state so many obvious things you’re against.” In a world where climate change, vaccines, even the coronavirus can be denied, you sure do. Indoctrinate yourself with a good kind of make-believe, season four of Fargo, starring Chris Rock himself. The crime drama premieres September 27 on FX.