Hip Hop Band At the Center of Late Night Controversy
5:30PM ET November 23rd, 2011
Contributor : Stephen Willis
A Rocky Williform Company

The Roots are at the center of a backlash from pundits angry at the band after Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's appearance on "The Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon." The Roots are the show's house band, and are known for picking unique 'walk on' music for guests. For Bachmann, the hip hop band played an instrumental version of Fishbone's 1985 song "Lyin' A** B*tch."

Fallon apologized to Bachmann via Twitter for the song choice. “I’m honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I’m so sorry about the intro mess,” Fallon tweeted yesterday (November 22nd). “I really hope she comes back.”

Roots drummer ?uestlove said that the performance was meant to be a joke. “The performance was a tongue-in-cheek and spur of the moment decision,” Questlove told the Wall Street Journal. “The show was not aware of it and I feel bad if her feelings were hurt. That was not my intention.”

Bachmann appeared on FOX News' "America's Newsroom" to promote her book “Core of Conviction,” insinuated that ?uestlove should be suspended or fired for the incident.

“I think the point is, if that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer, at least suspended him,” Michele Bachman said. “None of that happened from NBC. And this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite, but it’s also, I think, sexism as well.”