Donald Trump tells Jimmy Fallon to ‘be a man’ in row over hair messing episode

DONALD Trump has slammed chat show host Jimmy Fallon over the infamous “hair messing” incident during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a scathing tweet, the US President told Fallon to stop “whimpering” and “be a man”.

The Tonight Show host recently told an interviewer he regretted playfully tousling Mr Trump’s hair as he didn’t mean to “normalise (Trump) or to say I believe in his political beliefs.”

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Mr Trump said Fallon was “taking heat” over the incident as he had privately called him, lauding the episode’s “monster ratings”.

Hours after the US President’s damning tweet, Fallon responded, saying he would be making a donation to RAICES Texas, the non-profit firm that provides legal services to immigrants.

He said: “In honour of the President’s tweet I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name.”

.@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

The hair-messing TV appearance caused an outcry at the time, with critics accusing Fallon of “humanising” a person who encouraged hateful rhetoric.

In a column on the topic, Variety‘s then-TV critic Sonia Saraiya said the interview caused Fallon to lose “the last shred” of “any credibility as a thinking comedian with a point-of-view” that he may have had left.

In his post-Super Bowl episode last February, Fallon updated Bob Dylan’s iconic The Times, They Are a Changin to critique Mr Trump.

Fallon reworked the 1964 classic to take on Mr Trump’s attitudes towards women, race and the media.

Fallon has previously been criticised for not being as political as other US late-night talk show hosts, who regularly use their platforms to take on Mr Trump.