Tense moment between Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon goes viral after 'toxic' claims

A tense exchange between former Saturday Night Live co-stars Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon has re-emerged in the wake of the talk show host being slammed for his ‘outbursts’.

Joining SNL in 1998, Jimmy made his name on the sketch comedy series, which he appeared on for six years.

He later became the host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014, before kicking off The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014, but has now been accused of creating a ‘toxic work environment’ there.

However, in 2011 he was also called out in Tina Fey’s memoir Bossypants for a tense moment that unfolded between him and Amy, 51, after she joined SNL in 2001.

Re-shared this week, the extract was noted in the book as ‘one in a series of love letters’ to Amy.

‘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,’ it began.

‘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”.’

She continued: ‘Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, “Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it”. Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f***ing care if you like it”.’

While Tina described Jimmy as ‘visibly startled’ Amy went ‘right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit’.

She added: ‘With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. 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***ing care if you like it.’

However, Tina did later clarify that Jimmy and Amy were ‘very good friends and there was never any real beef between them’.

In a Rolling Stone investigation published last week, two current and 14 former employees of the NBC talk show said working there had led to declining mental health, while they’d allegedly been subjected to intimidation from bosses and erratic behaviour from the host himself.

Those who spoke to the publication also accused the host of being drunk and acting erratically behind the scenes, as well as sparking fear with his ‘outbursts’.

‘Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners,’ an ex-staff member told the outlet.

‘You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit.’

In the days following, Jimmy is reported to have addressed the claims in a Zoom call with staff, where he told employees it was ‘embarrassing’ and said he wanted the show to be ‘fun and inclusive for everybody’.

The Tonight Show is temporarily off air amid the ongoing writers’ strike.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs on NBC in the US.

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