See Jimmy Fallon Respond To His Death Hoax
After his supposed death trended on Twitter, Jimmy Fallon worked the controversy into his Tonight Show monologue.
This article is more than 2 years old
In case you didn’t know, Jimmy Fallon is alive. The host of The Tonight Show was the subject of a Twitter social media hoax that suggested he had passed away (via Deadline). Fallon took the idea and ran with it, taking to the stage backed by a choir and proclaiming “I’ve been to the other side!”
The humorous Tonight Show bit is of course referring to the 24-hour trending hashtag #RIPJimmyFallon. Fallon even tried to reach out to newly anointed Twitter CEO Elon Musk to try and fix the problem, to which Musk replied “Fix what?” Fallon’s experience with the hoax supplied him with plenty of ammo for his opening monologue, as he touched on Twitter’s recent changes, the announcement of Taylor Swift’s tour, and numerous other topics of the moment.
While the Jimmy Fallon death hoax is pretty funny on its own, there have been plenty of humorous incidents following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, though the billionaire probably doesn’t find the other problems quite as funny. After implementing a subscription model called Twitter Blue, which allows you to pay for a blue verified Twitter check, numerous troll accounts came out of the woodwork to impersonate real people with a blue check next to their name that makes the parody accounts seem decidedly non-parody. These parody accounts have impersonated McDonald’s, Nintendo, Ted Cruz, Coca-Cola, George Washington, and even Elon Musk himself.
Musk’s blue check plan is an attempt to produce more revenue for Twitter, which mostly derives its money from advertisements. While Jimmy Fallon death hoaxes and parody accounts are fairly innocuous problems (as long as you’re not getting impersonated), Musk will likely have quite a few other issues to face, especially if he loses valuable members of the Twitter workforce.
Elon Musk recently issued an ultimatum to the current Twitter staff, telling them they should expect to work “long hours at high intensity” or they can choose to leave the company and accept three months’ severance. This drastic move comes shortly after Musk fired half of Twitter’s staff and ousted top management and the board of directors. While Musk might be having fun with this Jimmy Fallon hoax, his employees have until the end of today to decide if they’re leaving their job or working under the new regime.
Of course, death hoaxes have long been a part of celebrity culture, so this Jimmy Fallon hoax really isn’t anything new, but Fallon definitely handled it with aplomb. It’s definitely a good thing Fallon is sticking around in the world of the living, as he will presumably continue to host The Tonight Show for the foreseeable future. Dolly Parton will also need Fallon to stick around for her upcoming TV movie Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.
Though Jimmy Fallon doesn’t act often, other than in The Tonight Show bits, he’ll be in the upcoming Dolly Parton Christmas movie that is coming out on December 1. Along with Parton and Fallon, the film stars Miley Cyrus, Tom Everett Scott, Ana Gasteyer, Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Angel Parker, Bryan Batt, and more. Meanwhile, you can catch Fallon every weeknight on The Tonight Show.
