04h40 PDT 04/06/2021
per
Abid Rahman
The host of ‘The Tonight Show’ had time to speak to the creators after criticism that a dance segment from the March 26 episode did not give due credit.
After a dance segment with Addison Rae in The Tonight Show caused a reaction on social media, host Jimmy Fallon addressed the controversy on Monday night and struggled to give due credit to some of the creators of TikTok behind the dances.
“On our last show before the break, we did a little bit with Addison Rae, where she taught me eight viral TikTok dances,” said Fallon when introducing the interviews. “Now, we recognize that the creators of these dances deserve to have their own spotlight, so now, some of the creators are going to join me to talk about how their dance went viral and then perform the dance themselves.”
Fall0n then spoke to Mya Nicole Johnson and Chris Cotter, who are behind the viral dance “Up”; Dorien Scott, the creator of “Corvette Corvette”; Fly Boy Fu who remixed “Laffy Taffy” and Indii who created the dance; Adam Snyder, Nate Nale and Greg Dahl who are behind the “Blinding Lights” dance; and Keara Wilson who created the dance “Selvagem”.
After the segment on the March 26 episode, Fallon and Rae were widely criticized on social media for not recognizing the predominantly Black creators of the dances Rae performed. The controversy fueled broader issues of white Instagram stars and TikTok going viral in search of creative ideas dreamed of by smaller POC accounts, as well as issues of cultural appropriation.
Rae addressed the problem and in an interview with TMZ. “I think everyone was credited to the original post on YouTube, but it’s kind of hard to credit during the show,” she said. “But they all know that I love them very much and, I mean, I support them all very much. And I hope that one day we can all meet and dance together.”
She added: “They deserve all the credit because they came up with these incredible trends.”
Watch the video below.