Trump Slams Fallon for Saying He Regrets That Hair Muss—But Why Now?

It appears Donald Trump finally caught wind of a podcast Jimmy Fallon did last week—and apparently, he didn’t like what he heard.

The Tonight Show host is not usually subject to the president’s ire; of all television’s late-night personalities, that honor is typically reserved for Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and, most recently, Samantha Bee. But last week, during an emotional interview, Fallon discussed—as he has before—the fallout from the infamous September 2016 Tonight Show episode in which Fallon spent his interview with Trump, then the Republican candidate for president, lobbing softballs, then capping Trump’s visit off by playfully ruffling the future president’s hair—a move that proved to be instantly and enduringly toxic for Tonight.

“I did not do it to normalize him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff,” Fallon said on the podcast. The intense backlash that followed took a toll on the comedian: “It was definitely a down time. And it’s tough for morale. There’s 300 people that work here, and so when people are talking that bad about you and ganging up on you, in a really gang-mentality . . . You go, ‘All right, we get it. I heard you. You made me feel bad. So now what? Are you happy? I’m depressed. Do you want to push me more? What do you want me to do? You want me to kill myself? What would make you happy? Get over it.’ . . . I’m sorry. I don’t want to make anyone angry—I never do and I never will. It’s all in the fun of the show. I made a mistake. I’m sorry if I made anyone mad. And, looking back, I would do it differently.”

On Sunday, the president finally tweeted his response: Fallon, the president wrote, “is now whimpering to all that he did the famous ‘hair show’ with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have ‘humanized’ me-he is taking heat. He called & said ‘monster ratings.’ Be a man Jimmy!”

A few hours later, the comedian wrote a response of his own: “In honor of the President’s tweet I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name.”

RAICES, which raises legal funds for parents arrested at the border, has seen widespread support from Hollywood over the past few weeks, as various TV writers’ rooms have challenged one another to post photos and raise money for the organization. It’s unclear for now how much the Tonight Show host will be donating, but either way, it’s worth wondering why the president saw fit to attack him in the first place. After all, Fallon didn’t express any sentiment in the podcast that he hasn’t said before; it’s been more than a year since the comedian opened up to New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff about the infamous moment and the backlash that followed. Why pick a fight with Fallon now?

Perhaps this lashing-out has something to do with the precarious position in which the president now finds himself. Trump has faced intense backlash of his own due to his administration’s cruel policy of separating asylum-seeking families at the border—widespread fury that was apparently strong enough to force Trump to back off and sign an executive order ending his own policy of child separation. (The solution Trump chose, however, is suboptimal at best: if the president gets his way, his administration will be able to detain families together, indefinitely—and there is no hurry to reunite families that have already been separated.) In times of controversy, the president loves to cast attention on sideshows, often using Hollywood figures as his punching bags—and what could be more classic than igniting a feud with a late-night host? The theatrics of Trump vs. Colbert last year, for instance, made some pretty big waves. This time, however, that tactic might not be enough.

Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.

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