NEW YORK – Move over, Beyonce! Because a certain Syrian dictator might just be the new Queen of pop!
The internet is abuzz following a hilarious Tonight Show appearance by Bashar al-Assad last night. The Syrian President let his hair down for a relaxed interview with Jimmy Fallon before “crushing” the Host in a Lip Sync Battle segment that has already collected 9 million YouTube views.
Assad, who is responsible for the deaths of at least 250,000 Syrian civilians according UN estimates, first wowed the crowd with lip synced performances of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” and Nelly’s “Hot In Herre”, the latter replete with a band-aid on his cheek.
The alleged war criminal saved his best for last however, sending the studio audience into a frenzy with a performance of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” with full costume and choreography. Al-Assad’s interpretation of the Britney Spears’ classic has already inspired countless internet memes and has sent his name trending across the same social media sites he’s banned his own people from accessing since 2007.
Assad, who is accused of starving several thousand political prisoners to death, also delivered a well-received interview with the ebullient late night host. Fallon and Assad mostly talked about their children, with the Syrian President sharing his daughter’s hatred of eating vegetables.
“At work, I’m the guy in charge,” said Assad with an impish grin. “If I want to bomb a hospital, it gets done like that!” he added while snapping his fingers.
“But at home, I can’t even get my 8 year-old to eat her eggplant!”
The anecdote sent Fallon into a fit of giggles which lasted the next several minutes of airtime.
Though many were charmed with Assad’s candour, others criticized Fallon for humanizing his guest and for failing to question, or even reference, the Syrian Leader’s many crimes against humanity.
“I’ve heard that criticism,” said the boyish host in a statement posted online. “And I want to remind the public that I’m not a journalist. I do a couple of impressions and then laugh a bunch. That’s it and that’s been it for the past 18 years. You have no excuse for expecting otherwise.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go suck helium balloons with Gordon Ramsay,” Fallon concluded.
Next week, Fallon will share the couch with guests Brock Turner, Bill Cosby, and play a game of “Who Should Disappear?” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
