After a damning report about bad behavior behind-the-scenes at The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon has delivered a message of contrition to his staff, expressing his regret for “embarrassing” the team who works on his late-night series.
On Thursday of this week, Rolling Stone published a lengthy account of the “chaos” that allegedly goes on at the NBC institution. The story described Tonight as “a toxic workplace” where leadership has created “an ugly environment” of tension, harsh criticism, and erratic behavior — and while that’s not necessarily surprising in the world of entertainment, Rolling Stone‘s interviews with two current and 14 former Tonight Show employees found that the problems stretch “far outside the boundaries of what’s considered normal in the high-pressure world of late-night TV.”
In a follow-up published later, Rolling Stone reported that Fallon addressed the earlier story during a Zoom call with his staff on Thursday evening, offering an apology that employees said felt “pretty earnest.”
“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon reportedly said on the call. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends. … I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.” He added that while he wants Tonight to be “fun” and “the best show,” he’s also committed to making it “inclusive to everybody.”
Appearing with Fallon on that call was Tonight showrunner Chris Miller, the show’s ninth lead executive in as many years — a fact which Rolling Stone pointed to as further evidence of unpredictability in how the series is managed. In an email sent to employees shortly after the initial report was published, Miller said the “past allegations of inappropriate behavior at the show” didn’t represent his experience.
“I don’t believe what’s written is reflective of the overall culture of our extraordinary team that I’m so lucky and proud to work with every day. The place described in the article is not the place I know,” he wrote. “Still, it’s disappointing to see something published that does not capture the positive and inclusive environment I believe we have created together.”
The allegations in Rolling Stone‘s original report include stories of Fallon struggling with alcohol, which has been a source of speculation for years now. One anecdote depicted the host being unable to follow along during a rehearsal (“He [seems] drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” one employee recalled thinking), and two other employees recalled separate instances when “they thought they smelled alcohol on Fallon’s breath when they entered an elevator with him during the workday.”
The employees also said the staff commonly delineates between “good Jimmy days” and “bad Jimmy days,” explaining that when the host showed up in a sour mood, it spelled disaster for the rest of the staff. They described Fallon responding to work that didn’t meet his standards with “personal insults” and “combative emails.” Meanwhile, top producers allegedly “walked on eggshells” around Fallon and refused to address his problematic behavior.
“Mentally, I was in the lowest place of my life,” one former employee said. “I didn’t want to live anymore. I thought about taking my own life all the time. I knew deep down I would never actually do it, but in my head, I’m like, ‘Why do I think about this all the time?’”
Rolling Stone noted that after reaching out to 80 current and former Tonight Show employees as well as representatives for NBC, “not a single one agreed to speak on the record or had positive things to say about working on The Tonight Show.” However, PEOPLE reported speaking with a current staffer who said Fallon is “super communicative” and “a really, really positive guy.”
“He makes a point of commending you when you do a great job and when he’s happy,” this employee said. “And any feedback I’ve received is always like, ‘Hey, we don’t need to do that again.’ It’s been very constructive and helpful for me in continuing to put together a show that he’s happy with. I’ve never been belittled, yelled at, nothing like that. It’s all exactly how a boss should give feedback to an employee.”
