Earlier on Thursday, Rolling Stone published allegations from two current and 14 former employees, including production crew and writers, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation. Rolling Stone claimed they had approached an additional 80 current and former employees, but “not a single one agreed to speak on the record or had positive things to say about working on the Tonight Show”.
According to Rolling Stone’s report, multiple sources alleged Fallon had a history of “outbursts” and lashing out at staff when under pressure; that previous senior staff on the show had bullied and belittled them; and that guests’ dressing rooms were commonly known as “cry rooms”, where employees could go let out their stress.
Nine showrunners have worked on the Tonight Show since Fallon took over from Jay Leno in 2014; a much faster turnover than comparable late night shows like Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
This is hilarious if you’ve ever worked in Hollywood: An NBC spokesperson told the magazine: “As in any workplace, we have had employees raise issues; those have been investigated and action has been taken where appropriate. As is always the case, we encourage employees who feel they have experienced or observed behaviour inconsistent with our policies to report their concerns so that we may address them accordingly.”
Which means they will fire that person and make sure they never work in the industry again. That sounds like a cliche you hear in movies, but if you know people who work in Hollywood you know that it’s a real thing.
And we always tell them, you can be honest. Don’t worry, we won’t “retaliate”
But why the quotes?
Oh, just for emphasis that we absolutely will “not retaliate or fire you immediately and spread rumors about you”