Jimmy Fallon Apologizes to Staff After Article on Workplace Environment

The “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon apologized to his employees on Thursday afternoon after a news article described the set of his present as being a “toxic workplace.”

Mr. Fallon, whose present has not aired new episodes for greater than 4 months due to the writers’ strike, advised the employees throughout a digital assembly: “It’s embarrassing, and I feel so bad.”

The article, printed by Rolling Stone, stated 14 former employees members and two present staff alleged that Mr. Fallon’s “erratic behavior” had helped to gasoline an unhealthy work setting.

“If I ever mistreated anybody, or made you feel bad, that was not my goal,” he stated within the assembly, in line with a employees member who was current. “I want this show to be fun. It should be inclusive for everybody. It should be funny. It should be the best show, the best people. I just wanted to say I miss you guys.”

NBC launched a press release on Thursday saying: “We are incredibly proud of ‘The Tonight Show,’ and providing a respectful working environment is a top priority. As in any workplace, we have had employees raise issues; those have been investigated, and action has been taken where appropriate.”

On Friday, a spokeswoman for NBCUniversal stated Mr. Fallon and the present weren’t beneath investigation as a result of the allegations within the article had been years outdated and had been addressed by the corporate.

Rolling Stone reported that in a taping with the comic Jerry Seinfeld, Mr. Fallon had scolded a employees member holding a cue card. The article went on to report that Mr. Seinfeld had pressured Mr. Fallon to apologize to the worker, and that different employees members had described the second as “uncomfortable.”

Mr. Seinfeld despatched a press release to Rolling Stone after the article was printed that stated: “This is so stupid. I remember this moment quite well. I teased Jimmy about a flub, and we all had a fun laugh about how rarely Jimmy is thrown off. It was not uncomfortable at all. Jimmy and I still occasionally recall it and laugh. Idiotic twisting of events.”

Mr. Fallon took over internet hosting duties of “The Tonight Show,” the storied NBC establishment that has existed for the reason that Fifties, in 2014. His present instantly scored massive scores, a development that continued even after CBS put in Stephen Colbert as David Letterman’s alternative on “The Late Show” in September 2015.

Mr. Fallon’s light-touch strategy to the present — with an emphasis on singing, dancing and taking part in video games — appeared to match the nationwide temper.

But not lengthy after Mr. Fallon tousled the hair of Donald J. Trump, who was then a Republican presidential candidate, in a 2016 interview, his present’s scores started to slip.

In early 2017, simply as Mr. Trump took over the White House, viewership for Mr. Colbert’s “The Late Show” eclipsed “The Tonight Show,” as Mr. Colbert and lots of late-night hosts started delivering pointed political monologues, a course that Mr. Fallon shied away from. Though viewership for all late-night exhibits has fallen in recent times, Mr. Colbert has continued to greatest Mr. Fallon.

During the scores slide, Mr. Fallon has gone by way of a variety of showrunner adjustments.

Mr. Fallon, in addition to different late-night hosts, together with Mr. Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver, started broadcasting a podcast collectively final week referred to as “Strike Force Five.” Proceeds from the present are being given to their out-of-work employees members because the writers’ strike has saved their exhibits darkish for 129 days and counting.

Chris Miller, who has been the “Tonight Show” showrunner since 2022, despatched an e mail to employees members on Thursday shortly after the Rolling Stone article was printed.

“While I know the reporter reached out to many of you before the piece ran, 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,” he wrote. “The place described in the article is not the place I know. Still, it’s disappointing to see something published that does not capture the positive and inclusive environment I believe we have created together.”