President Trump called comedian Jimmy Fallon a flip-flopper and advised that he “be a man” against criticism from liberals.
Mr. Fallon has taken considerable criticism from fellow Hollywood entertainers for a “Tonight Show” interview he did in September 2016 in which he, among other things, playfully ruffled Mr. Trump’s hair to see whether it was real.
Liberals believed that “humanized” and “normalized” the Republican presidential nominee and longtime reality-TV star.
“I did not do it to ’normalize’ [Trump] or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff,” he told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week.
“What do you want me to do? … What would make you happy?” he told the celebrity-news site through tears, before apologizing and saying “looking back, I would do it differently.”
Mr. Trump was not impressed.
“.@jimmyfallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous ’hair show’ with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening before saying that Mr. Fallon had spoken differently at the time.
“He is taking heat. He called & said ’monster ratings,’” he wrote.
“Be a man Jimmy!” the president concluded.
.@jimmyfallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous “hair show” with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have “humanized” me-he is taking heat. He called & said “monster ratings.” Be a man Jimmy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
Mr. Fallon’s response, in Mr. Trump’s terms, probably was a decision not to “be a man.”
The late-night host tweeted that he would donate to a group trying to oppose Mr. Trump’s border-security policies.
“In honor of the President’s tweet I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name,”
RAICES stands for Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. it’s an immigrant-rights group that has raised $20 million for a fund to pay for lawyers for illegal-immigrant parents and children who have been separated.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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