Comedian Jimmy Fallon apologized once again for wearing blackface during a skit on “Saturday Night Live” while on air.
Fallon used his “Tonight Show” platform Monday night to issue another statement on wearing blackface. Fallon received backlash after a video clip of him impersonating Chris Rock on “SNL” in 2000 resurfaced on Twitter.
“I had to really examine myself in the mirror this week because a story came out about me on ‘SNL’ doing an impression of Chris Rock in blackface,” Fallon said. “And I was horrified. Not of people trying to ‘cancel’ me or cancel this show, which is scary enough. The thing that haunted me the most was, how do I say I love this person?”
Fallon opened up about the advice he received from others on how to handle the situation. (RELATED: Jimmy Fallon Shares Message Condemning Racism Following Blackface Apology)
“What I kept getting advised was to just stay quiet and not saying anything,” he said. “And that was the advice because we’re all afraid. I took the advice and thought ‘god I’m going to do this wrong. You’re right. I’m going to say something and get myself into more trouble.'”
“I realized that I can’t not say I’m horrified and I’m sorry and I’m embarrassed,” Fallon added. “I realized that the silence is the biggest crime that white guys like me and the rest of us are doing, staying silent. We need to say something. We need to keep saying something. And we need to stop saying ‘that’s not OK’ more than just one day on Twitter.”
Fallon’s on air apology comes after protests and riots broke out across America over the death of George Floyd. Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department after an officer knelt on the back of his neck for roughly eight minutes.
As previously reported, officer Derek Chauvin has been arrested and charged with manslaughter and murder in the third degree.