It took Jimmy Fallon a while to live down tousling Donald Trump’s hair on The Tonight Show ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Back then, it was unpopular to cape for Trump, and the moment was the subject of scorn and derision from the political left. But the tides have changed in Trump’s second term, and major entertainment studios are eager to appease the president and his legion of devoted fans. Who better to appeal to that audience than Jimmy Fallon, tousler of hair, least political and most milquetoast of all his late night peers? And so it was under these conditions that Trump’s favored late night host, Greg Gutfeld, appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show in a rare crossover between Fox News and the dreaded “mainstream media.”
The segment is about as oily as you’d expect; when Gutfeld came out on stage, the two shared a big hug as if they were long-lost comrades. Turns out they were, as Gutfeld’s first anecdote was about meeting Fallon years earlier when they were both wasted and how kindly Fallon had treated him then. Setting aside how humiliating it is that Gutfeld made Fallon sound like a drunken buffoon, the underlying message of the story is clear: Fallon has always been willing to embrace the right, unlike some other late night hosts Gutfield can—and has—named.
See, Fallon has shown some support for Stephen Colbert since his competitor’s cancellation over at CBS, but that support falls a little flat when you’re also inviting Gutfeld to your show. Per Variety, Gutfeld gleefully mocked Colbert for the ending of The Late Show on his own Fox News Channel program. “They didn’t just cancel the show. They canceled the whole show,” he said in July. “This was an ‘institution,’ and rather than put someone in his place they just said, ‘We’re closing up.’ Imagine being a chef. You’re such a bad chef that they cancel food. … It’s so obvious. You can’t do a comedy show and a sermon at the same time.”
Fallon and NBC might win a scrap of goodwill from this stunt from the Fox News crowd. Over on Fox & Friends, they’re already calling Fallon their favorite of the mainstream hosts, while touting Gutfeld as the “king of late night” who deigned to leave his better-rated throne. But it seems unlikely that the attempt will win any points with Trump himself. The Wednesday before Gutfeld’s Tonight Show appearance, the president doubled down on his distaste for the remaining late night hosts. “Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They’re next,” he said at a press conference (via The Independent). “They’re going to be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know, but I would imagine because they’d get—you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.”
This comes weeks after Trump had posted on his Truth Social account that “Greg Gutfeld is better than all of [the hosts] combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.” And so Fallon becomes yet another embarrassing entry on the list of folks who attempt to placate Trump even after being jeered and insulted by him. At least he can share the dishonor with Ted Cruz.
