There is outrage over how Donald Trump was handled on live TV

American late night television host Jimmy Fallon has been blasted for how he treated Donald Trump during an appearance on The Tonight Show.

You see instead of getting all up in Trump’s grille and being confrontational, as many would expect with a presidential candidate in the lead up to an election, Fallon was willing to work with whatever Trump gave him. When Trump made a joke about fearing what people would do to his hamburger if they knew it was him ordering, Fallon let out some over the top large laugh as if Trump had just unleashed the funniest joke on the planet. It wasn’t.

However, what has people most up in arms is not that The Tonight Show didn’t toe the line between comedy and responsibility — don’t think anyone has done that since David Letterman — it’s that Fallon “dehumanised a well-documented xenophobic, racist and misogynistic serial liar”, to quote The Huffington Post.

The worst part was when, after a series of quips, like asking Trump about whether or not he knew what a coin was, Fallon asked the Republican presidential nominee if he could mess up his famous head of hair on live television.

What the…?

While the internet usually eats that stuff up, there was also quick criticism aimed squarely at Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show for playing into Donald Trump’s hand.

https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/776752680643522561

https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/776655702941134848

https://twitter.com/Ateeya/status/776633870598959104

What do you think? Should we expect more from our television hosts when it comes to interviewing politicians, especially in the lead up to an election? Do you believe this sort of behaviour detracts from the important issues that should be getting discussed?