Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has defended fellow comedian Jimmy Fallon as he tries to wriggle free of controversy surrounding his use of black face in a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit at the turn of the century.
Fallon found himself at the nasty end of social media backlash after footage of him in black face in 2000 impersonating Chris Rock resurfaced, causing ripples on social media this week.
A #JimmyFallonIsOverParty trended on Twitter while others insisted on a public apology and acknowledgement of his actions.
“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,” he wrote apologising for his two decades old actions.
“I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
Jamie Foxx however, came out strong in his defence of the Tonight Show host.
“Bro you ain’t got to apologize for s**t,’ Foxx told Fallon in the comments section of his Instagram apology. “You are a comedian… and a great one at that.
“You did an incredible impersonation of Chris Rock… it was not black face… we did a show called in living color where we did Characters from every race… You are all the way good… keep doing you my friend! You are necessary!”
Foxx later doubled down on his support for support of Fallon when E! made a post about the controversy.
“He was doing an impression of chris rock,’ Foxx wrote in the comments section of the post. ‘It wasn’t black face. We comedians I know it’s a tough time right now.
“But this one is a stretch. On a show called in living color we played every race Let this one go. We got bigger fish to fry … #changecourse.” Daily Mast