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Jamie Foxx Criticized for Making Up Sign Language on ‘The Tonight Show’: ‘How Is This Allowed?’

Nyle DiMarco took issue with a promotional segment.
Jamie Foxx Criticized for Making Up Sign Language on The Tonight Show
Jamie Foxx
MediaPunch/REX/Shutterstock

When’s the last time good news emerged from “The Tonight Show”? Jimmy Fallon‘s ratings are down, many have yet to forgive him for palling around with Donald Trump and now a new promo featuring Jamie Foxx is being criticized for mocking sign language. We may have finally found something that won’t cause Fallon to immediately burst out in laughter.

READ MORE: Jimmy Fallon Opens up About Fallout From Trump Interview: ‘I Was Devastated’

Said segment features the Oscar winner briefly making hand gestures that look to be somewhere between actual sign language and baseball signs. Nyle DiMarco, a deaf actor/model who has won seasons of both “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Next Top Model,” tweeted at Fallon to ask “how is this allowed”?

READ MORE: ‘Sleepless’ Review: Jamie Foxx Stars In a Very Tired Remake Of a Modern Action Masterpiece

“It is straight up disrespectful to make up sign language,” he said to Foxx, also on Twitter. “Everything is in gibberish.” He later released a statement saying that the actor’s behavior “should not be tolerated anywhere” because “we simply do not make fun at the expense of other cultures, especially those with a history of being marginalized. When we do this, progress takes a step backward.”

 

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