The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and its titular star, is at the center of a new exposé alleging a toxic workplace environment. However, does this mean the show has been canceled?
You may have noticed that new episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon have not aired for some time now. On a surface level, you might be forgiven for thinking this might have some kind of connection to the workplace allegations. However, this is purely a coincidence.
As Rolling Stone reported, two current and 14 former employees of The Tonight Show say it is a production that has led to multiple staff members reporting mental health issues due to the stress and chaotic nature behind the scenes. That includes allegations that Fallon had berated an employee in front of other staff, accusations of suspected alcohol intoxication on set, and generally erratic behavior, as we previously reported. So why isn’t the show on the air right now if it’s not for those reasons?
Why is ‘The Tonight Show’ off the air?
All these revelations about the allegedly dysfunctional work environment behind the scenes at The Tonight Show happen to be occurring amid the most significant labor union conflict to hit Showbusiness in decades. Specifically, the Writers Guild of America strike has halted production on The Tonight Show and other talk shows. However, that is pretty much completely unrelated to the new allegations leveled at Fallon and the show’s executives. Despite the indefinite hiatus from the strike, The Tonight Show has not been formally canceled outside of that.
In fact, Fallon even teamed up with other talk show hosts, such as Stephen Colbert and Seth Myers, to host a temporary podcast together called Strike Force Five, the proceeds for which are said to be going to the staffers who are without work due to the strike. With that said, the Rolling Stone article is not the first recent controversy Fallon has been embroiled in with respect to his staff.
Back in May, a staff member from The Tonight Show, Sarah Kobos, called Fallon out on Twitter, saying he did not attend a production meeting in which NBC announced pay would be halted due to the strike. However, the photo research coordinator quickly followed that up the next day with the revelation that Fallon joined a subsequent meeting, advocated NBC to pay the staff a second week, and even opted to pay them out of his own wallet “for a third week.”
In terms of what NBC has said about the allegations surrounding Fallon’s toxic workplace tendencies, they did give an official statement to Rolling Stone. However, the statement notably made no mention of Fallon himself but rather defended the show in general:
“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. As is always the case, we encourage employees who feel they have experienced or observed behavior inconsistent with our policies to report their concerns so that we may address them accordingly.”
It remains to be seen how this will all pan out for Fallon. However, it is not the first time a talk show host has faced accusations they fostered a toxic work environment. A recent example includes Ellen DeGeneres, who ultimately decided to end her show Ellen in the heat of public allegations. James Corden was also accused of being abusive at a restaurant that he was later banned from and has similarly retired from The Late Late Show.
