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Jamie Foxx stuck up for Jimmy Fallon after the “Tonight Show” host received immense backlash over a resurfaced video of him appearing in blackface on “SNL” 20 years ago.
Fallon responded to the controversy after a sketch from 2000 in which he appeared in blackface to perform an impression of Chris Rock resurfaced on Twitter. Things got so bad that the hashtag “#JimmyFallonIsOverParty” was briefly trending on the social media platform.
Foxx, however, disagreed with the host’s decision to apologize for the sketch. He responded in the comments of an E! News Instagram post on the matter to defend Fallon and comedians at large for pushing racial boundaries.
Jamie Foxx defended Jimmy Fallon over a resurfaced sketch from 2000 in which the ‘Tonight Show’ host appeared in blackface.
(Getty Images)
“He was doing an impression of chris rock. It wasn’t black face. We comedians I know it’s a tough time right now. But this one is a stretch,” he wrote. “On a show called in living color we played every race Let this one go. We got bigger fish to fry … #changecourse.”
The star was referencing the 1990 sketch show, “In Living Color,” which ran for five seasons and often contained controversial sketches about race.
Fallon, meanwhile, seemed to welcome the negative attention as a learning opportunity. In his response Tuesday, the late-night host seemed to thank the public for holding him accountable for his past actions.
“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,” Fallon tweeted. “I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
Fallon isn’t the only comedian to land in hot water over the past use of blackface.
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface several times while impersonating former NBA player Karl Malone and daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey during his tenure on “The Man Show.”
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Comedian Sarah Silverman also wore blackface in a 2007 satirical episode of “The Sarah Silverman Program,” where her character accepted the challenge of “being black” for a day while unwittingly offending others for wearing blackface.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
