Famous comedian and former talk show host, Jay Leno, 72, suffered serious injuries after being burned in an explosion in his car garage in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 12.
Speaking to various news outlets, the former Tonight Show host confirmed that he had received third-degree burns from a gasoline fire, requiring skin grafts. He said he had been treated and was doing okay, adding that he would need a couple of weeks to heal properly and get back on his feet.
News that Jay Leno had been hospitalized after getting burned was revealed by the American pop culture news agency TMZ and spread quickly. Leno had been working on his 1907 White Steam Car on Saturday, which had a clogged fuel line. He told TMZ there was a leak and the gasoline sprayed onto his hands and face. A spark caused the explosion that caused the fire that burned Leno. A companion nearby was able to smother the flames, saving Leno’s life.
Media reports indicate that the comedian was expected to participate in the Financial Brand conference in Las Vegas on Sunday. He notified the organizers that he would not be attending the meeting due to a “serious medical emergency,” and he did not disclose his fire accident to them at the time.
The organizers then sent all attendees an email, saying Leno’s family did not provide them with details, but he had a serious medical emergency that would not allow him to make the trip, adding that all they knew was that Leno was alive and their prayers went out to him and his family.
For several years now, Leno has talked about struggling with high cholesterol levels, and the news of a serious medical emergency made many of his fans speculate that his health issue was related to his heart.
Due to his burns, Leno was admitted to the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles. The hospital said on Monday that Leno was receiving treatment for burn injuries to his face and hands from the accident and reassured everyone that he was in stable condition.
Luckily, Leno did not sustain any serious injuries to his ears and eyes.
Jay Leno hosted NBC’s The Tonight Show from 1992, when he succeeded Johnny Carson, and left in 2009. He quit the talk show to start his own NBC show titled The Jay Leno Show, and Conan O’Brien took over as the new host of The Tonight Show.
Both shows got terrible ratings, and NBC decided to make Jay Leno the host of The Tonight Show again in 2010. He stayed on as the host for four years and quit in 2014, at which point Jimmy Fallon became the new host. In 2015, Leno launched a new show with CNBC, called Jay Leno’s Garage, which ran for seven seasons. In 2021, Leno became the host of the revived show, You Bet Your Life.
