Jimmy Fallon giddily joined the parade of late night hosts mocking Tucker Carlson on Monday night. “The Tonight Show” on NBC host wasted no time at the start of his opening monologue, launching some pointed quips about the recently fired Carlson, joking that Russian president Vladimir Putin now might “need a new PR guy.”
Also nodding to Don Lemon’s dismissal from CNN, Fallon teased that he’s “one of the few TV personalities who’s still employed.”
The news of Carlson’s sudden firing from Fox News was met by a round of applause from Fallon’s in-studio audience. “Some people aren’t sure what led to his exit, but Fox News can think of almost a billion reasons why,” Fallon joked, alluding to Fox News’ recent $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. According to the lawsuit, the news organization’s hosts like Carlson repeatedly implied to their viewers that Dominion’s machines changed Trump votes to Biden during the 2020 election.
That was far from the only swing Fallon took at the former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host. Fallon said that when Russian president Vladimir Putin heard of Carlson’s firing, he said, “Damn, we need a new PR guy.” Fallon then added that, without Carlson, he won’t know “which M&M is most woke” and that the conservative political commentator will be replaced by “a golf shirt with the collars popped.”
On Monday, Fox News announced that Carlson would be leaving the network “effective immediately.” Fox didn’t even give its highly-recognizable host a final show, instead announcing that Carlson’s last day had aired on Friday. Not only was Carlson mentioned in the Dominion lawsuit, but he stands at the center of his own sex discrimination lawsuit. Carlson’s former booking producer Abby Grossberg alleges that Carlson and Fox created a sexist working environment that allowed harassment. Among other things, the case claims that staffers were polled twice on which two female candidates for governor they would rather have sex with.
Lemon’s firing, meanwhile, also comes in the wake of accusations of misogyny and misbehavior. The former CNN host made comments on air that Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley was not “in her prime.” Variety also released a report in April claiming that Lemon sent malicious texts to his female co-workers and mocked them.
