Following Addison Rae's controversial March 26 segment on The Tonight Show in which she and Jimmy Fallon were criticized for failing to credit the predominately BIPOC creators of the viral TikTok dances she performed on the show, Fallon took a moment to spotlight the original creators.
During the show's April 5 episode, Fallon addressed the social media backlash by interviewing the TikTokers over Zoom. "On our last show before break, we did a bit with Addison Rae, where she taught me eight viral TikTok dances," Fallon said. "Now, we recognize the creators of those dances deserve to have their own spotlight, so right now, some of the creators will join me to talk about how their dance went viral, and then perform the dance themselves."
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Fallon spoke to seven creators responsible for some of the most viral and impressive TikTok moments of the past year: Mya Nicole Johnson and Chris Cotter (@theemyanicole & @cchrvs) who created the "Up" dance, Dorien Scott (@yvnggprince) for "Corvette Corvette," Fly Boy Fu’s composed the "Laffy Taffy" remix and Indii who made the dance (@FlyBoyFu & @17slumz), Adam Snyder, Nate Nale, and Greg Dahl (@macdaddyz) for the "Blinding Lights" dance, and Keara Wilson (@keke.janajah) for "Savage."
While Rae — who performed these creators' dances and three more on the show — and Fallon received their fair share of criticism, the controversy opened up a larger discourse about crediting work on social media platforms, and how often white personalities often go viral using or appropriating ideas created by BIPOC users.
The segment, however, was devoid of tension or animosity towards Fallon. Instead, the TikTok creators took full advantage of their time to shine — and in some cases...shake their Laffy Taffy.
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