The Roots vs. Michele Bachmann
When guests come on screen on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show, The Roots always greet them with walk-on music that's often subtle and usually witty. For Larry King, it was Roger Miller's "King of the Road," for Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian it was Meatloaf's "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad." Depending on your point of view, on Monday night, the Philadelphia band led by drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson either cleverly outdid itself or overstepped the bounds of acceptable taste while making their political beliefs all too plain in a way that's sure to be making their employers at NBC deeply uncomfortable.
The Roots vs. Michele Bachmann
Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic
When guests come on screen on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show, The Roots always greet them with walk-on music that's often subtle and usually witty. For Larry King, it was Roger Miller's "King of the Road," for Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian it was Meatloaf's "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad."
Depending on your point of view, on Monday night, the Philadelphia band led by drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson either cleverly outdid itself or overstepped the bounds of acceptable taste while making their political beliefs all too plain in a way that's sure to be making their employers at NBC deeply uncomfortable.
Minnesota congresswoman and Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was the guest, and when she walked out to be meet Fallon, the wordless, unquiet music played by ?uestlove was a song by the great West Coast ska-punk band Fishbone called "Lyin' A-- Bitch."
The initial reaction from Roots watchers was laudatory - ?uesto retweeted one follower who wrote "@questlove huge ups to the fishbone tune for Bachman on jimmy tonight. perfect entry song for her!" Today, though, the mood hasn't been so sanguine. Fallon tweeted "@Questlove is grounded" and later "I'm honored that @MicheleBachmann was on our show and I'm sorry about the intro mess. i really hope she comes back."
Meantime, demands for an apology from the band, who release their new album Undun on Dec. 6, started adding up. Democratic New York Congresswoman Rep. Nita Lowey said in a statement: "I do not share Michele Bachmann's politics, but she deserves to be treated with respect. No female politician - and no woman - should be subjected to sexist and offensive innuendo like she was last night." And PBS' Gwen Ifill tweeted "You know what? The Roots and Jimmy Fallon should apologize. Really, @questlove, you're better than that."
By Tuesday evening, that apology had materialized, with ?uestlove, who has a picture of himself with President Obama on his twitter feed, saying in a statement: “The performance was a tongue-in-cheek and spur of the moment decision. The show was not aware of it and I feel bad if her feelings were hurt. That was not my intention.”
We'll see if there's any elaboration on tonight's show, which was taped earlier this evening, before Bachmann participated in yet another Republican debate, in Washington, D.C. A clip of the Bachmann walk on, via Politico, is below. Fishbone's original "Lyin' A-- Bitch" is here.
UPDATE: No mention of the Bachmann brouhaha on Fallon on Tuesday night. The grounded ?uestlove was behind his kit as usual, backing musical guest B.o.B. and hyping Undun in an absurdist Shout Outs segment that also included Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter hawking "Mexico meets the Mayflower" turkey tacos. First guest Howie Mandel was greeted by "This is Howie Mandel" music, adapted from Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It."
UPDATE #2: Bachman was interviewed on the Fox News Channel's show America's Newsroom on Wednesday morning, and when she was asked if she was aware of the Fishbone song being played, she had this to say:
“I wasn’t aware of it at all. I didn’t find out until later yesterday and at that point I was traveling and making my way to the presidential debate. I am hoping to be able to speak to Jimmy Fallon today. I don’t have anything against Jimmy Fallon, I love him, he’s a kick, it was a great opportunity to be on the show, I’d love to go back again. But I think the point is, 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, at least suspended him, none of that happened from NBC and this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite but it’s also I think it’s sexism as well. This wouldn’t be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama; it shouldn’t be tolerated if it’s a conservative woman either.”
Previously: Review: Rihanna's Talk That Talk Follow In The Mix on Twitter here
The Roots > Michelle Bachmann. Who cares if her feelings were hurt, she maligns people with every other breath. She treats people as if they are beneath her. She deserves every ounce of slander and insult that she gets.— taxmanndumbeth- EVERYONE running against Obama is a nut bag. Obama will win in 2012, and hopefully we will be smart enough this time to elect in some decent house and senate members preferable on the liberal side so we can get some work done.
?uestlove was right in playing that song. Bachman is a total idiot, just like everyone else in her party.— gorming - Because the last congress didn't have enough Democrats. — battman21
Comment removed.- balloon knot.
— selophane43 - Michelle Bachmann is in no way the person you would like to say she is.
On the contrary the roots have shown themselves to be the progenitors of hate in fact . Because they played a song with that intent.— baddatty - Truth hurts. The fact that this vapid bimbo is even still relevant shows how stupid some amerikans are. Rock on, Roots. If she has the b*lls to show up again, play The B*itch is Back.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- Cicero, your name belies you troglodyte like, hippie oriented, limited capacity for independent thought upbringing. And taxman you seem to make a blanket comment about someone you know nothing about. I wonder how you obtained such insight into the character of someone you have never met? Slave to media perhaps? Judge not lest yee be judged.I'm not a Bachmann fan but you too need to go out and date or do something productive with your lives— T. Paine
- Hey fella, Bachmann is in the public light, it's not hard to create an opinion about her personality when she's running for President and has been a politician in the public eye for over a decade. BTW, keep your bible passages to yourself. Oh and I'll decide how I spend my time.— taxmanndumbeth
- If her husband can run a gay conversion center, an irrelevant TV show can mock her musically. Fair is fair. One is dangerous. One took people days to talk about. — jonline
- Let me start by saying I'm a Dem and oppose her, but that was rude and over the line. Someone at NBC should have immediately apologized and suspended ?uestlove.— bokelevich
- Agree 100% — PhillyExcitement
- They will never suspend Questlove. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon loves The Roots. More importantly, there have been many other controversial walk on songs played before and he hasn't been suspended. Michele Bachmann isn't better than any of the other guests that The Roots have insulted with their song choice. In my opinion, the song was a funny choice and this whole thing has been blown out of proportion. — rockstar7789
- YEA, DON'T U KNOW MAKING FUN OF FEMALE POLITICIANS IS SEXIST! YOU'RE ONLY ALLOWED TO MAKE FUN OF MALE POLITICIANS. SILLY QUESTLOVE.— KingOfPhilly
- Exactly. Bachman says it was sexist, then uses Michelle Obama as an example. She is clueless, and clearly not equipped to be president... — fillyfan
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