Last night, I did something I’ve never done before — and don’t expect to ever do again. I recorded Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show, and just watched it to see if he’d bring up the fiasco when Michele Bachmann was on the previous night. Just in case you missed it, she was played on stage by Fallon’s house band with an excerpt from “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.”
Nope. Instead, Fallon took to Twitter to make his amends. First, he Tweeted that the band leader had been “grounded,” then followed up with this message:
I’m honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I’m so sorry about the intro mess. I really hope she comes back.
Hey, Fallon: screw you. You call that an apology? That’s the kind of thing you say when there’s some kind of technical screwup or accidental mishap. One of your stage people trips and spills something on her. Her microphone doesn’t work. A light blows out. She trips on a stray cable.
No, what happened was one of your key people chose to render a subtle — but very deliberate and very vile — insult to your guest. Your person — whom you’re responsible for — flipped her the bird behind her back and stuck a “kick me” sign on her coat. He hocked a loogie in her hamburger. And he grinned because she didn’t pick up on it.
You want to show you’re sorry? Do so by showing that you don’t accept that kind of thing pulled on your guests on your show. Impose some kind of punishment on your chosen bandleader. Make him publicly apologize for what he did.
And, for Christ’s sake, make the apology in the venue in which the original insult was conveyed. Don’t allow your show to shit all over a guest on national TV, then try to make nice-nice on Twitter. That don’t cut it, pal.
At this point, I don’t see any reason why any Republican candidate — or, for that matter, anyone — should bother going on Fallon’s show. Not as long as Fallon’s going to let his bandleader pull shit like this freely.
