This one’s off the menu. NBC talk show host Jimmy Fallon is reportedly backing out of a line of pasta sauces he created with Mottola Media Group chairman Tommy Mottola after the latter’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein surfaced in recent days.
According to Page Six, the duo’s sauce venture was scheduled to launch next year but was put on pause after file releases revealed Mottola communicated with Epstein from 2010 to 2019 about everything from renting helicopters to hiring a private investigator.
The former head of Sony Music and one-time husband of Mariah Carey, Mottola is also said to have spent time at Epstein’s New York and Paris homes in the 2006 to 2008 period after the latter was released from prison for soliciting sexual acts from minors.
In 2017, when the nascent #MeToo movement began taking down high-profile entertainment industry figures, Epstein told Mottola that he was “safe” from scrutiny. Mottola replied asking if he should “shut up and lay low,” to which Epstein responded, “sure.”
Meanwhile, Fallon and Mottola have been friends for decades and are known for sharing social media photos of themselves eating at Italian restaurants. Mottola appeared as a talk guest on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in 2013 to promote his autobiography, Hitmaker.
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