Chris Rock doesn’t think Jimmy Fallon was trying to be hurtful when he impersonated the comedian while in blackface back in 2000 on Saturday Night Live.
The actor, 55, defended Fallon, 45, in a new interview with the New York Times, calling the late night host a good friend and ‘great guy’ who would never aim to offend.
‘Hey, man, I’m friends with Jimmy. Jimmy’s a great guy. And he didn’t mean anything,’ Rock told the paper.
‘A lot of people want to say intention doesn’t matter, but it does. And I don’t think Jimmy Fallon intended to hurt me. And he didn’t.’
Earlier in summer a 2000 SNL sketch where Jimmy imitated Rock in blackface resurfaced online, prompting #JimmyFallonIsOver to trend of Twitter and earn massive attention from the media.
Other celebrities like Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Robert Downey Jr., and Ted Danson were called out over using blackface around the same time.
Fallon apologized on social media at the end of May, tweeting: ‘In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface. There is no excuse for this.
‘I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.’ he wrote.
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Source: Daily Mail
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