Amid a flurry of reports that “Megyn Kelly Today” is on the verge of cancellation, the former Fox News host skipped Thursday’s taping of her eponymous 9 am show as NBC instead aired a previously-taped episode. Her absence comes as the one-time cable news wunderkind is reportedly negotiating her exit package from the network, where she currently earns more than $15 million a year (a staggering sum for a host whose show has consistently underperformed in the ratings amid a rash of controversies) as she deals with the fallout of what’s perhaps her biggest scandal to date: Her bizarre decision to defend wearers of black face.
Two days ago, Kelly asked during a panel discussion about inappropriate Halloween costumes “what is racist” about white people wearing black face and black people wearing white face, adding that “back when I was a kid that was okay as long as you were dressing up as a character.”
Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) October 23, 2018
Her words triggered an almost immediate flurry of outrage, and the next day, Kelly delivered a tearful apology on her show, saying she was “sorry” to have contributed to the divisiveness that is already tearing America apart.
“I want to begin with two words, I’m sorry..The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor..Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.” Megyn Kelly pic.twitter.com/6hHrvZLNvK
— Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) October 24, 2018
Kelly’s show on Friday will also reportedly be pre-taped, according to Mediaite, as speculation intensifies about when – or if – Kelly will return. Adding fuel to the fire of speculation, Kelly last night parted ways with her agents at CAA, one of the country’s premier talent agencies.
Less than two years after signing with the network and a little more than a year after making her network debut, the network, frustrated by her repeated stumbles, is showing Kelly “no mercy.” Sources close to NBC News President Andy Lack told CNN that “Kelly’s show will be ending” and that “she is unlikely to return” later. Kelly’s move to NBC from Fox in January 2017 was the subject of breathless coverage in the media. Despite coming to public prominence after declaring in 2013 that “Santa Claus is white” during her show on Fox News, Kelly became a liberal media darling (see this laughable puff piece published three years ago in the NYT Magazine) and endured years of speculation that she would move to a more “mainstream” network once her contract with Fox ran out. However, Kelly got off to a rough start at NBC, as her ratings lagged and she became mired in controversy almost immediately after asking an audience member if watching the show “Will & Grace” was how he “became gay.”
Kelly will be the second “Today” host to leave the show in the past year (after Matt Lauer was felled by a #MeToo controversy in late 2017) and is set to prove, once again, that for many alumni of Fox News, building a career after leaving the cable news giant is much more easily said than done, as the Ringer pointed out.
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