Jimmy Fallon in Trouble After his NFT PR Stunt with Paris Hilton

Recently, The Tonight Show Host and proud BAYC NFT holder Jimmy Fallon interviewed Paris Hilton about her upcoming NFT Collection. It ended on a high note with the Hollywood A-lister gifting the entire audience NFTs, a first on live TV! However, it looks like Jimmy Fallon got himself in trouble because of the PR stunt!

Jimmy Fallon in Hot Waters after Paris Hilton Interview

Fallon himself is into NFTs. He announced on his show, as part of an interview with iconic NFT artist Beeple, that he had purchased a Bored Ape. Specifically, BAYC #599, for a whopping $225,000. Effectively, promoting the NFT could create FOMO and boost the price higher. So if Fallon opts to sell it in the secondary market, he could flip it for a huge profit. For some, this is a problem.

Comcast, NBC’s parent company, has a workplace policy that instructs NBC employees to “not let outside interests or activities interfere with [their] business judgment or responsibilities to the company.” So promoting the Bored Ape franchise and his own NFT can be seen as a conflict of interest.

Furthermore, NBC mandates that employees must “disclose and obtain approval for all outside work, financial interests and other personal activities/relationships that may create or appear to create a conflict.” In addition, they should not “use company info, resources, time, etc. for personal benefit,” as stated in the NBC Universal gifts, conflicts and corruption policy.

However, it looks like Fallon has the full support of NBC. An NBC spokesperson insisted that Fallon did not violate the company’s conflict of interest policy. He explained that hosts could promote outside projects such as books and movies. So it looks like the award-winning host can continue promoting NFTs just like Paris Hilton!