Jimmy Fallon Mum On Toxic Workplace Allegations As Tonight Show Returns

A lot has happened during the five months that NBC's The Tonight Show was off the air, due to the WGA strike. But host Jimmy Fallon was in no rush to brush up against the headlines he himself made just weeks ago.

"I am so excited to be here," Fallon said, opening Monday's The Tonight Show. "Seriously, I'm more excited than a guy seeing Beetlejuice with Lauren Boebert."

Fallon went on to applaud the writers getting "a fair deal" after a 148-day work stoppage, then fire off zingers about Suits, Taylor Swift, overheating iPhones and the "251 lb." Donald Trump, but his monologue never directly alluded to the toxic workplace allegations that recently surfaced via past and present Tonight Show staffers.

That said... there was a fleeting-if-earnest mention of his "great writers and awesome crew" during a monologue-ending, summer-recapping "song" (see video below). And much more conspicuously, when Fallon sat at his desk, he got quite reflective and spoke of having time over the summer "to really sit and think."

"I realized how grateful I am for all of this, for this show," Fallon, turning quite serious, shared. "I really love this job, I love doing it, I love telling jokes, I love making you laugh.... I'm very lucky to have this show.... And I want to do it for a long time." (Watch that video above.)

In early September, RollingStone.com published an exposé on the late-night program's allegedly toxic workplace environment. Rolling Stone had spoken to 16 current and former Tonight Show employees whose allegations against Fallon ranged from "erratic" outbursts to direct mistreatment of staffers. Some said they were berated by Fallon in front of their colleagues; others alleged that they were the recipients of passive-aggressive notes and combative emails about the quality of their work.

In a Sept. 7 Zoom call with employees, Fallon apologized and said that he did not intend to "create that type of atmosphere for the show," two people who were on the call told Rolling Stone.

"It's embarrassing and I feel so bad," he reportedly said. "Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends... I feel so bad I can't even tell you."

Were you not at all surprised that Fallon didn't directly address the Rolling Stone exposé? Would you have been impressed to see him accept some further responsibility, publicly?