Jimmy Fallon’s tense exchange with Amy Poehler resurfaces amid toxic workplace claims
They were at Poehler opposites.
A tense exchange between former “Saturday Night Live” costars Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon has gone viral after the late-night show host was accused of creating a toxic work environment for his employees.
The heated interaction, which was posted to X ( formerly Twitter), was initially covered in Tina Fey’s 2013 autobiography “Bossypants,” and depicted Fallon, 48, yelling at Poehler, 51, during a table read for the NBC variety show.
“Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to start,” wrote Fey. “Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.’”
“Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it,’” continued the passage. “Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f–king care if you like it.’”
According to the “Mean Girls” writer, the incident left Fallon startled as Poehler went back to joking with Meyers, 49.
“Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute,” wrote Fey. “She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not f–king care if you like it.”
The Post reached out to Poehler and Fallon for comment.
Fey’s “dead to rights” revelation – as dubbed by The New Yorker’s archive editor Erin Overbey — comes several days after Rolling Stone published an article claiming that several staffers had suicidal thoughts due to Fallon’s erratic behavior.
“Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners,” recalled one former employee.”You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit. Look how many showrunners went so quickly. We know they didn’t last long.”
One employee also recalled a 2017 incident where Fallon allegedly crossed out jokes on a piece of paper he was holding, then appeared confused.
“He couldn’t remember he had just crossed it out himself,” the employee said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, he [seems] drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.’”
“Mentally, I was in the lowest place of my life. I didn’t want to live anymore. I thought about taking my own life all the time,” one former employee said.
The Post had previously reported about Fallon’s drinking and partying getting “out of hand” in 2015, with one bartender who served him commenting, “He’s a mess.”
“Nobody told Jimmy, ‘No,’” a staffer told the outlet.
Several staffers also alleged to the outlet that Fallon would often belittle the crew and employees over minor slip-ups.
“It was like, if Jimmy is in a bad mood, everyone’s day is f–ked,” revealed one staffer. “People wouldn’t joke around in the office, and they wouldn’t stand around and talk to each other. It was very much like, focus on whatever it is that you have to do because Jimmy’s in a bad mood, and if he sees that, he might fly off.”
Fallon later apologized to his staff members during a zoom meeting in response to the Rolling Stone expose.
“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon allegedly said last week. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends … I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.”
Despite the allegations, several of Fallon’s friends, including comedic legend Jerry Seinfeld, defended the TV host.
“This is so stupid. I remember this moment quite well,” said the “Seinfeld” star in a prepared statement. “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.”
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