Tina Fey went to bat for Jimmy Fallon during an interview Saturday, telling listeners that she felt sorry for the backlash Fallon received after he hosted a softball interview with the Republican presidential candidate last month that ended with Fallon mussing Donald Trump's hair.
Fey said her time on Saturday Night Live impersonating former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was "gentle" and like “an ice cream social” compared to today's political climate, which she described as "so ugly."
“This election is so, so ugly, it’s not business as usual. I really felt for Jimmy when people were so angry," Fey told a crowd at Saturday's Produced By New York conference. "It’s not Jimmy who peed in the punchbowl. It’s not Jimmy who created this horrible world we’re living in.”
Fallon was roasted online—and even on SNL—after he mussed Trump's famous blond coiff on an episode of The Tonight Show.
Fey then reminisced about her own time on SNL, telling the audience that the writers tried to make sure the skits weren't inherently biased.
“We spent so much time and care on making sure everything was a fair hit,” she said. “We never, ever went into it thinking, ‘We gotta protect Obama’ or ‘We gotta make [the Republicans] look bad.’ Audiences can smell when a sketch is tipped.”
