Jimmy Fallon has been the subject of controversy this past week, as he seemingly inappropriately nicknamed one of his latest guests to appear on his live show.
Last Friday (November 17), Hunter Schafer sat on The Tonight Show couch across from host Jimmy, as she came to promote her new movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
While being interviewed, the model-turned-actress opened up about her appreciation for the franchise, which she had been a fan of ever since childhood.
Jimmy held up a picture of Hunter as a child, dressed in a capitol-inspired costume for Halloween.
Jimmy Fallon called Hunter Schafer "bud" on The Tonight Show, stirring some heated debates online
Image credits: jimmyfallon
Image credits: jimmyfallon
The 24-year-old Euphoria star recalled: “For Halloween, I was obsessed with how the capitol people were in costume and made my own costume.”
The adorable memory prompted Jimmy to reply in excitement: “Oh bud, it’s unbelievable!
“This is really cool, now you’re in Hunger Games — as a capitol person!”
Hunter agreed as she replied: “It’s crazy.”
Hunter was promoting her new movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Image credits: hunterschafer
Image credits: hunterschafer
As Jimmy held up another picture, this time a new promotional photograph of Hunter as her Hunger Games character, he exclaimed: “Look at you! Congratulations, bud!”
The 49-year-old TV personality’s repeated use of the noun “bud”, derived from “buddy”, used synonymously for the words “friend” or “companion”, sparked outrage online.
“Oh bud, it’s unbelievable!" Jimmy told Hunter in reaction to her childhood picture
Image credits: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Image credits: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
While Hunter didn’t appear to be affected in any way during the interview, some viewers rushed to social media to express their anger.
As Hunter is an openly transgender woman, some individuals thought that the use of “bud” might’ve been a form of misgendering, as some believe that 'buddy' has a masculine significance.
As Hunter is an openly transgender woman, some individuals thought that the use of “bud” might’ve been a form of misgendering
Image credits: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
In a now-deleted post on X (formerly known as Twitter), which was captured by BuzzFeed, a person shared a TikTok video of The Tonight Show’s segment with Hunter, captioning it: “Jimmy Fallon calling Hunter Schafer ‘bud’, I am going to [redacted].”
According to the publication, the post received 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours, and racked up thousands of likes and retweets, with many sharing their agreement in the quote-tweets.
You can watch the segment below:
The host's term was deemed "male-coded" by some people
A person commented: “As if I didn’t have reason enough to hate Fallon, he takes this opportunity to show that he doesn’t see Hunter as the beautiful, immaculate queen sitting before him.”
Another individual wrote: “To my cis readers, I hope you don’t see this as an overreaction — bud/buddy is unquestionably male-coded.”
It wasn’t long before other viewers pointed to the fact that Jimmy has a verifiable history of continuously calling his guests, female celebrities included, “bud”.
In a TikTok shared by The Tonight Show, Taylor Swift made an appearance along with Jimmy, as he knocked on the musician’s dressing room door.
The host was then filmed saying: “Hey bud! So excited, 10 minutes to show time!”
Jimmy has a verifiable history of calling his female guests “bud”
The former SNL comedian has also been filmed calling Selena Gomez and Dew Barrymore “bud” in older interviews.
In addition to calling his guests “bud”, Jimmy has also called Ariana Grande “pal”, Jennifer Lawrence “dude” and even “man”.
According to Dictionary, buddy, pal, mate, champ, and boss are all gender-neutral words, although they have been traditionally applied to men and boys.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is currently playing in movie theaters.
Hunter plays the young version of Tigris Snow, the cousin of Coriolanus Snow and an old acquaintance of Cressida and Plutarch Heavensbee who resides in the Capitol.
Tigris goes on to become a prized stylist in the sequels of the Hunger Games.
The Tonight Show's segment with Jimmy and Hunter sparked divided opinions
