Congresswoman Michele Bachmann isn’t letting NBC off the hook – even if the mainstream media is more than willing to do just that.
Bachmann appeared as a guest on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Monday, and when she took her seat the show’s house band, The Roots, played the Fishbone song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.”
The band’s outspoken drummer Questlove patted himself on the back for the song selection initially via his Twitter feed, and then served up a mealy mouthed apology statement that rang as hollow as a cheap Christmas ornament.
Fallon, for his part, apologized via Twitter but didn’t bother to do the right thing and apologize on-air, where the original slur took place.
Bachmann told Fox News she had no hard feelings against Fallon but wants an apology from NBC.
“If that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer or at least suspended him. None of that happened from NBC. This is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite, but it’s also sexism as well … this [apology] really needs to come from NBC.”
Big Hollywood reached out to NBC officials yesterday for comment, and we have yet to hear a response.
Fallon has never been a divisive figure, and he clearly treated Bachmann with respect during their Q&A. But by relegating his apology to Twitter and not demanding some punitive action toward his band he will emerge from the incident diminished in the eyes of many fans. And rightly so.
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