Jimmy Fallon is all smiles after scandal - but has he learned his lesson?

OPINION

Jimmy Fallon returned to TV this month after the Hollywood writers' strike ended, seemingly without an ounce of remorse about the scandal that dented his golden boy reputation. While he reportedly apologised to his team at a Zoom meeting in September, he neglected to mention on air that his current and previous staff had alleged he's a bit of a nightmare to work with.

"Nobody told Jimmy, 'No'. Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners," one employee had said. This portrayal is inconsistent with how Fallon, 49, appears on screen. His whole affable act is based on being sincerely innocuous. Rather than scathing monologues, his penchant is matey-mate interviews with A-listers, celebrity impersonations and showing off his vocal chops by singing with the likes of Ariana Grande and Justin Timberlake.

On air, he's Mr Congeniality. The kind of celebrity you'd like to think, if you happen to run into him in a hotel bar, would be friendly, self-deprecating, chatty and even buy you a drink.

Then Rolling Stone magazine blew up the whole edifice after it gathered complaints from two current and 14 former employees, who spilled the tea on the allegedly "toxic", "tense" and my personal favourite for a comedy program, "pretty glum" atmosphere.

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Employees claimed they were left in a "constant state of fear" thanks to Fallon's allegedly unpredictable, "erratic" behaviour. It got so bad that staff said they ducked into guest's dressing rooms, nicknamed "crying rooms", to release their emotions.

Despite the allegedly toxic behaviour, Fallon hasn't made a public apology. It's hardly surprising; talk show hosts are notorious for having enormous egos, so why do we expect their workplaces to be nice, and why are we shocked when they're not who they appear to be on screen?

Fallon is certainly not the first chat show host that colleagues say doesn't resemble the genial, good-natured presenter we see on TV. James Corden copped a ton of criticism, albeit not from his Late Late Show colleagues when he eviscerated waitstaff over an omelette at famed restaurant Balthazar in New York. A long list of detractors who'd worked with him for years confirmed his alleged unpleasantness. Corden is now on a career break and spending time with his family.

Then there's once-beloved Ellen "Be Kind" DeGeneres, whose reputation was shredded in July 2020 after BuzzFeed published numerous allegations about the toxic work environment allegedly created by production executives behind the scenes of her show. While DeGeneres came across a cold fish, the buck stopped with her and the show ended after 19 seasons in 2022. Unlike Fallon, her reputation has yet to recover.

Maybe it's because Fallon's defenders have had a gutful of cancel culture, with one fan writing, "People are just out to ruin other people's lives. Enough already. It's non-stop. So tired of cancel culture idiocracy morons. Focus on your own lives and flaws. No one is perfect, no job is perfect and no relationship is perfect!"

Correct, no one is perfect, however, being a jerk at work shouldn't fly whether you're Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy the Janitor. While he wasn't going to breathe new life into the scandal by apologising publicly to his staff, hopefully Fallon learned his lesson and has pulled his head in. Bad behaviour in the workplace creates a toxic environment, which can have devastating consequences and should not be tolerated.

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