Retired “Late Night” host David Letterman criticized Jimmy Fallon for the infamous moment when the “Tonight Show” host played with Donald Trump’s hair during the presidential election.
Last fall, Trump allowed Fallon to mess up his hair while visiting as a guest on the program. “The Tonight Show” host was widely criticized for being too soft on the divisive presidential candidate, with many accusing Fallon of “normalizing” Trump. Letterman admits Fallon got a “fantastic viral clip” out of the playful moment, but told Vulture that he “would have gone to work on Trump.”
“I think I would be in the position to give him a bit of a scolding and he would have to sit there and take it,” Letterman said. “I think you have an obligation.”
Letterman didn’t always feel this way about brining politics to late night television.
“The comparison that comes to mind is during the Vietnam War, Johnny Carson had an unstated policy that he would never mention the war. He would talk about the personalities involved, but not the war. His theory was, with the six o’clock news, the last thing people wanted to hear more of was young Americans dying painfully,” Letterman told Vulture in the wide-ranging interview.
Letterman admitted that he stayed away from politics early in his career because of Carson, but it all changed when Jon Stewart took over “The Daily Show.”
“[Stewart] made it so that not doing political stuff got to be the elephant in the room,” Letterman said. “We changed our attitude to make it easier on ourselves.”
“We don’t need more confirmation that there’s something wrong with Donald Trump,” added Letterman, while calling on the Democratic party to “get a little backbone, get a little spine.”