Madonna makes Jimmy Fallon sweat, remove coat in 'disturbed' interview

published 8 October 2021

With Jimmy Fallon, you're never quite sure when it's a publicly stunt, but he did look uncomfortable on Thursday's Tonight Show when Madonna crawled up on his desk. Leading up to that moment, Madonna had been talking about the writer James Baldwin. "He was a great source of inspiration for the show, and one of the things I quote over and over again in the show is that artists are here to disturb the peace," she said. "And so I hope that I have disturbed not only your peace this afternoon but people's peace while they watch the show. But I mean that in the best way."

"Oh, yeah, you get in good trouble," Fallon said, nodding to another Black icon, the late John Lewis. "Good trouble," Madonna agreed, but she appeared to have something else in mind. After Madonna got off the desk and sat down again, she told Fallon: "Life is not just about interviewing kiddies. Don't you want to talk to an adult? Let's have some adult conversation." "Are you talking to an adult right now?" Fallon asked. "I'm not sure," she replied, and the conversation veered toward therapy and smoking.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.