Mayor Kenney Rags Jimmy Fallon Over Philly Accent

“Saturday Night Live” took a (fictional) detour to the City of Brotherly Love this weekend, with comedy vets Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon depicting two female voters from the Philly suburbs who were undecided as to their votes in the upcoming presidential election. Philadelphia has been the focus of much attention by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in recent weeks, as the traditionally-blue state is being considered a battleground and potential swing state on November 8th.

Jimmy Fallon took heat for his far-from-authentic Philly accent. (Photo credit: NBC)

Fallon, dragged out in a pink turtleneck and Eagles sweatshirt with French-tip fingernails and a mom-esque short wig, was lambasted on Twitter and other forms of social media after the airing for what was, objectively, a terrible Philadelphia accent. The Philly accent can be a tough one to nail, as Fallon proved. His partner in laughs, Tina Fey, nailed it – but, of course, she grew up in the Philly ‘burbs.

Among those taking a good-natured swing at Fallon after the show aired was none other than another Jimmy… Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney. Kenney tweeted at Fallon: “Whereja buy the hoagies at?,” teasing Fallon over his pronunciation of the sandwich staples as “hewgies.” “I’ll take suggestions,” Fallon tweeted back. Kenney, on a roll, tweeted back: “Some of the bestest are like Pastaficio is South Philly. They’re really good, Hon!” This was followed by: “Gotta have the Sarcone bread. It’s got that crust to die for!” and “Eyetalian hoagies are best for Iggle’s games!”

Fallon himself acknowledged that his Philly accent game needed work, breaking down in laughter at several times during the SNL skit and making a comment that his accent was so bad because his character had recently been on vacation. After trading volleys with Mayor Kenney, he tweeted that he was off to Philadelphia to work on his accent.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether real-life Philly suburban women will stay true to the Democratic party or vote otherwise in the presidential election.