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
If that had been a white musical group doing a song like that for a black woman, you can bet your a-- that they would have been fired. Why does PC only work in one direction?— rugbyjt- Good point. Maybe there is a such thing as "black privilege" in America. * Adds to my resume* . But you gotta love America where we complain about walk on songs and then have Thanksgiving feasts in memory of the day that we broke bread with the natives, and slaughtered them afterwards. Whats a walk on song to a holiday? Whats a God to a non believer? Theres no church in the wild son. — SWlawchick
- This comment has been deleted.— phillydaveaml
- phillydaveaml, your post is completely uncalled for -- racial epithets are beyond unnecessary for this forum. — rubanek
- And I guess you have a penthouse on Main street? But your thouhgts still live in a gutter. WTF do you know about a TYPICAL anything?... Takes one... — Clorenbrown
- planet of the apes..lol— tim17600
- Um, this is what happens if you hire the Roots to be the band for your show. They have always worn their politics on their sleeve. In fact, it what has made people, like me, such fans of their music. As for Bachman saying how Michelle Obama wouldn't have gotten such treatment. Well, Mrs. Bachman, you are no Michelle Obama. It will be a relief when this election is over, so we never have to hear the nonsense you spew on a daily basis again.— Hemingway
- Sounds appropriate.— ej610
- The more she makes a stink about it, the more it will get played and make her look like an idiot.— ej610
- rubanek: Thank you for making my point. It isn't nice, is it?— davesju93
- As a fan of The Roots I do not agree with their actions, but I missed how I made your point. Please explain your point of it being a "white" joke? — rubanek
- And by the way ?uestlove, or whatever your stupid name is, A punctuation mark (?) is not a letter of the alphabet.— davesju93
- "What is this crazy stuff these kids are listening to?!" The Roots have been around for 25 years and won or been nominated for a Grammy 11 times so to actually sound confused as to who ?uestlove is just shows your age.
- rubinek: My point is that The Roots are racist, sexist pigs and really shouldn't made such "commentary" about others.— davesju93
- I can go with you on sexist, but not on the racism? You are not explaining HOW it is racist? If she was Jewish would you also say it was anti-semetic? Since when does "b**ch" ONLY apply to white women? What I can extrapolate from your standard it that every criticism of Netanyahou by a non-Jew is anti-semetic even if is identical to a Jew's criticism of him. That is absurd! — rubanek
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