Jimmy Fallon Under Fire for Lighthearted Interview with Donald Trump

Jimmy Fallon has ruffled some feathers after his interview with Donald Trump

Jimmy Fallon‘s recent interview with Donald Trump has landed the late-night host in critics’ sights.

On Thursday, The Tonight Show host, 41, conducted a characteristically lighthearted interview, including playfully tousling Trump’s hair. By early Friday, viewers had begun to question Fallon’s treatment of the polarizing Republican presidential nominee.

Beyond the head rub, Fallon is also facing accusations of letting Trump, 70, off with an easy interview and allowed him to dodge hard-hitting questions about his campaign. And others feel Fallon’s choice to amuse and entertain is humanizing a candidate whose opinions have been decried as sexist, racist and xenophobic.

Below are some of the responses to the interview.

Some detractors had fun imagining how Fallon might conduct interviews with historic villains, including Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler.

And others referenced Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who recently cut short an interview with Cosmopolitan after she was questioned about her father’s comments on childcare and maternity leave.

“I think you have a lot of negativity in these questions,” Ivanka told the reporter. “So I don’t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this, if you’re going to make a comment like that.”

The Trump interview aired just days before Hillary Clinton will sit down with Fallon, who has also used his signature breezy hosting style with President Obama.

Beyond Fallon, though, interviews with this year’s presidential candidates have been under heightened scrutiny as this increasingly contentious election cycle nears its conclusion on election day.

Nearly two weeks ago, NBC’s Matt Lauer was heavily criticized for how handled his interviewed both Trump and Clinton.

The longtime anchor was accused by some Democrats of spending too much time on Clinton’s email scandal and failing to fact-check Trump for several claims – including that he had always opposed the Iraq War. Shortly after, the hashtag #LaueringTheBar began trending on Twitter.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs weeknights (11:35 p.m. ET) on NBC.