President Trump has found a new adversary in Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon became Trump’s latest Twitter target after the late-night host expressed regret over a controversial Tonight Show interview he did with the now-president in September 2016. Back then, Trump was still widely considered a longshot to win the presidency.
The President took to his favorite figurative megaphone, Twitter, on Sunday night to tell the late-night host to “Be a man.”
The tweet followed an interview Fallon did with The Hollywood Reporter, published Saturday, in which he looked back on a September 2016 episode featuring Trump. In the episode, Fallon asked Trump, then the Republican nominee for president, if he could “mess up” the nominee’s hair.
Looking back on the episode, Fallon told THR that he faced severe backlash from people who thought the late-night host had “normalized” Trump and drew criticism from his colleagues.
Calling it a “downtime,” Fallon said that he “made a mistake,” and apologized if he “made anyone mad.” He also said that “looking back” he would have done things “differently.”
Fallon went on to insist that he had not done the stint for the ratings, saying, “I don’t really care about the ratings. I never will. That’s someone else’s job at NBC.”
While Fallon might not care about the ratings, it seems that at least one person does: the president. In Trump’s Sunday tweet, he referred to Fallon’s interview, saying that the host was “whimpering to all that he did the famous ‘hair show’ with me (where he seriously messed up my hair),” continuing that Fallon “is taking heat,” but that he had “called & said ‘monster ratings.’” Trump concluded by calling on him to “Be a man Jimmy!”
.@jimmyfallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous “hair show” with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have “humanized” me-he is taking heat. He called & said “monster ratings.” Be a man Jimmy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
Trump intimated that Fallon had called him at some point after the show, telling him the episode had received “monster ratings,” before writing: “Be a man, Jimmy!”
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In a swift response, Fallon, whose show saw a significant drop in ratings after the infamous September episode, tweeted: “In honor of the president’s tweet, I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name.”
RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, identifies itself as the largest immigration legal services nonprofit in Texas, with a focus on immigrant children, families and refugees.
It’s hard to #resist supporting reuniting families. Thanks, Jimmy! This is a tremendous honor. A hugely winning choice! #nohumanisillegal https://t.co/ZTmFjbr5GJ
— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) June 25, 2018
The nonprofit thanked Fallon in a tweet, calling the donation a “tremendous honor.”
“It’s hard to resist supporting reuniting families. Thanks, Jimmy! This is a tremendous honor. A hugely winning choice!” RAICES wrote.
It is unclear how much money Fallon plans to donate. However, his contribution will add to a more than $20 million windfall RAICES received in a matter of days, after a Facebook fundraiser for the nonprofit went viral.
The organization has said it plans to use the funds to help reunite families separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which saw children separated from parents caught crossing the U.S. southern border illegally. The president rescinded the rule last week, after facing widespread backlash.
(Excerpts) Read More at: Fortune.com and Newsweek.com
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