"I then called my friend Gary to tell them how weird it was that the Taliban called. I pushed the redial button by mistake."
Posted by
Max
Mar 20 '19, 12:05
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History may look back on this skit as offensive, but I'd like to think of myself as balanced enough to be respectful of all people while also never not finding this bit extremely funny whenever it pops into my head.
Fallon: Earlier this week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced that he had been invited to meet with Afghan Taliban rulers as a possible mediator in the tense standoff over Osama Bin Laden. One of the more bizarre elements of this news is that there is some confusion over who initiated the invite. Here to explain it, the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Jesse Jackson: Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you, Tina. And thank you, America. For the record, I did not contact the Taliban; they, in fact, contacted me. What happened was this: I had a hang-up on my machine, so I star-sixty-nined, and they said, “Hello?” And I said, “Who is this?” And they said, “Who is this?” And I said, “You called me.” And they said, “You called us.” And I said, “I star-sixty-nined you!” They admitted it was the Taliban. Then I had a great laugh over what transpired. I immediately called the appropriate people in Washington, D.C., let them know I’d been contacted by the Taliban first. I then called my friend Gary to tell them how weird it was that the Taliban called. I pushed the redial button by mistake. I accidentally got the Taliban. At first, Jimmy, I thought it was my friend Gary being funny.
Jimmy Fallon: Yeah! You would.. you would think that!
Jesse Jackson: Because he was like, “Agga gaga”
Jimmy Fallon: That sounds like Gary!
Jesse Jackson: But then I realized it was the Taliban. It was not my friend Gary. So I jokingly said, “Come, Mr. Taliban, Tali-me banana.” After that, it was a very uncomfortable moment.
Jimmy Fallon: I can see why!
Jesse Jackson: They said they were on the other line, they had to take that call. And we played phone tag over the next few days. I left several messages on their machine, suggesting we get together and talk – which had been their idea in the first place. Finally, a spokesman for the Taliban at the Afghan embassy in Pakistan called me and told me to stop calling. Which I took to mean that I would be welcome to come over and broker a deal. Once again, I called the relevant parties in Washington, they said they would be happy to send me to Afghanistan – I could even take comedian Bill Mahar with me. They even had a specific cave we could wait in until they dropped us a message. Jimmy.. Tina.. I anxiously awaited my opportunity to help in a time of crisis.
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