Jimmy Fallon is apologizing for an old “Saturday Night Live” clip that went viral Tuesday, in which he wore “blackface” to impersonate fellow comedian Chris Rock.
People on Twitter called for Jimmy’s cancelation after the old sketch, which first aired in 2000, resurfaced online Tuesday.
In the skit, Jimmy was portraying Chris Rock while talking to Darrell Hammond as TV host Regis Philbin. While NBC had previously removed the video from the internet, the clips had been circulating on both Twitter and Youtube.
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Jimmy Fallon doing blackface why is impersonating black ppl so funny back in the day I hate it here pic.twitter.com/VWGw01zibq
— hiba 𖧵 ON LOVE ⁷ 💕 (@hiboiki) May 26, 2020
Jimmy took to Twitter to respond to the criticism and apologize for what he considered an “unquestionably offensive decision.”
“In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface. There is no excuse for this,” Jimmy wrote on Twitter. “I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
On Twitter, the hashtag #JimmyFallonIsOverParty began trending, with social media users calling to “cancel” Jimmy for his impersonation.
Jimmy Fallon was a cast member on SNL for six years, from 1998 to 2004, effectively skyrocketing him to fame and putting him in a position to grow in the NBC family. Chris Rock was also an SNL cast member, from 1990 to 1993.
Chris Rock had not publicly commented on the matter as of late Tuesday afternoon. We’ll keep you posted on any updates.
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