Jimmy Fallon apologises for 'unquestionably offensive decision' after 20 years

Jimmy Fallon is apologising for an 'unquestionably offensive decision' he made twenty years ago by wearing blackface while impersonating comedian Chris Rock on "Saturday Night Live."

An old skit from SNL featuring Jimmy Fallon recently resurfaced on social media, which showed "The Tonight Show" host wearing blackface to impersonate Chris Rock while Darrell Hammon played Regis Philbin. Fallon faced huge criticism for the skit which was first aired in 2000, and the hashtag "#JimmyFallonIsOverParty" started trending on Twitter.

"He literally did blackface. He deserves to be cancelled," one Twitter user wrote, while another wrote: "#jimmyfallonisoverparty he really did black face and nobody called him out til now???"

However, there were several Twitter users who defended the popular TV host as well. A user referred to black actors Marlon and Shawn Wayans doing a "whiteface" in 2004 comedy film "White Chicks" and wrote: "#jimmyfallonisoverparty is trending on twitter for impersonating Chris Rock in blackface 20 years ago on an SNL skit. Why don't Marlon and Shawn Wayans get the same treatment for doing "whiteface" 16 years ago?"

"Yall wanna talk about how cancel culture is "toxic" but yall just changed it to "is over party". ITS STILL THE SAME THING!! #jimmyfallonisoverparty," another user wrote.

Nonetheless, Fallon who appeared on SNL in the late '90s and early 2000s took to Twitter on Tuesday to apologise for making the "terrible decision," and thanked the social media users for holding him accountable.

"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. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable," the 45-year-old wrote.

Fallon is not the only celebrity to be called out for sporting blackface. Comic Sarah Silverman was reportedly fired from a movie after a photo appeared of her wearing blackface during a 2007 episode of "The Sarah Silverman Show." Last year, several senior politicians in Virginia including Governor Ralph Northam were held accountable for wearing blackface.

Meanwhile, news broadcaster Megyn Kelly was fired by NBC in 2018 for defending wearing blackface as part of a Halloween costume. Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, also apologised last year after old pictures of him in blackface at a party surfaced.