Cacs Cacing: Megyn Kelly Is Out Here Defending Blackface UPDATE: Fired!
- Thread starter playahaitian
- Start date
hopefully that’s the case
She actually tried going to ABC News..they basically told her go on somewhere
Megyn Kelly Schooled by NBC and ABC Hosts After She Defends Blackface: ‘She Owes a Bigger Apology’
By Nicholas Hautman
October 24, 2018
Al Roker, Megyn Kelly and Robin Roberts. Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images (2); Paula Lobo/ABC via Getty Images
Megyn Kelly was heavily criticized on multiple networks after she said wearing blackface is “OK” on Halloween.
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Al Roker was among the first to lay into his NBC colleague, 47, while covering the controversy on the Today show on Wednesday, October 24.
“The fact is, while she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country,” the weatherman, 64, said. “This is a history going back to the 1830s — minstrel shows, to demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right. I’m old enough to have lived through ‘Amos ’n’ Andy,’ where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters and just magnifying the worst stereotypes about black people. And that’s what the big problem is.”
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Megyn Kelly issued an apology in an email to colleagues for a controversial comment she made on her show Tuesday about blackface.
7:41 AM - Oct 24, 2018
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Roker’s response came one day after Kelly came under fire for her comments during a panel with Jenna Bush Hager, Jacob Soboroff and Melissa Rivers on Megyn Kelly Today.
“What is racist?” the former Fox News host asked. “You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK just as long as you were dressing as a character.”
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Over on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday, Robin Roberts called out NBC for the “lack of diversity” on Kelly’s panel.
“If you’re going to have this discussion, perhaps you should have a more diverse panel that can challenge her when she’s making those types of statements,” Roberts, 57, said, drawing nods from her cohosts Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos.
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Megyn Kelly's 'blackface' backlash; TV host apologizes after comments spark outrage. @paulafaris reports. http://GoodMorningAmerica.com
8:09 AM - Oct 24, 2018
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Kelly issued an apology to fellow NBC staffers hours after her headline-making comments, which were also denounced by Padma Lakshmi. The Top Chef host, who has appeared on multiple Today segments through the years, tweeted, “I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018. You are on national television. You have a responsibility to educate yourself on social issues @megynkelly. This is so damaging.”
In her email, Kelly wrote, “I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep. I’ve never been a ‘pc’ [politically correct] kind of person — but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age.”
A visibly emotional Kelly apologized a second time on air on Wednesday morning. “The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense,” she said. “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.”
Shut the fuck up Gail! These Networks kill me by having a Black mouthpiece point out bullshit to salve the wounds of a CAC when they're down. She did that shit in the report about the Bakari Henderson who was killed in Greece and made it a point to note his age, height, and weight as though he was an invincible Negro.
They used Tamron Hall for that shit too.
Megyn Kelly Never Belonged at Today. The Blackface Debacle Just Proves It.
By Jen Chaney@chaneyj
Megyn Kelly on her Today show set. Photo: NBCUniversal Media/Getty Images
Is Megyn Kelly’s lease on the third hour of NBC’s Today show finally about to expire? After stating during a panel discussion on Megyn Kelly Today that she didn’t understand why wearing blackface on Halloween is racist, Kelly’s morning show has reportedly been canceled. It’s unclear whether she will remain part of the NBC News team, and her lawyers will meet with NBC executives to discuss her future at the network as soon as Friday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly had previously expressed an interest in covering news and politics in another capacity, but her blackface controversy may now make that an impossibility.
If the former Fox News anchor does wind up departing NBC, whether it’s voluntary or not, some may characterize her dismissal as punishment for her defense of blackface. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes at Today, but my sense is that this is just the straw that broke NBC News chairman Andrew Lack’s back. “There is no other way to put this, but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate,” Lack said at an NBC town hall on Wednesday. If he’s probably known for a while that he needed to divorce Kelly from Today, the fact that she announced it’s okay for white people to go full minstrel show provides the excuse he needs to finally cut the cord.
I say that Lack has probably known that he needed to end Megyn Kelly Today because it seems impossible that he didn’t. Kelly’s NBC colleagues likely knew, too. Observers of its poor ratings knew, as did anyone who has ever watched Megyn Kelly Today for more than 45 seconds. As I wrote last year after the disastrous first week of this misguided experiment in morning television, Kelly’s personality doesn’t fit the Today show brand. Over the past 12 months, that fundamental truth has not changed.
pipe bombs being sent to Barack Obama — but it’s also meant to be a warm, comforting part of Americans’ daily routines. That’s not who Megyn Kelly is or what she represents, at least as a television personality. If you asked me to free-associate adjectives that describe her, we’d be both here until Election Day before I ever got to “warm” or “comforting.”
Megyn Kelly was groomed as a broadcaster on Fox News, where being a white person who says whatever white thoughts enter one’s white head is an asset rather than a liability. Like so much of the on-air talent there, she was rewarded for saying the things that everyone — “everyone” being mostly white, conservative people — is supposedly thinking but doesn’t say. That quality, by the way, is one of the same things that Trump supporters often mention when asked to explain why they like him so much. Donald Trump fits in beautifully with the Fox News modus operandi, and so did Megyn Kelly, at least until she started questioning Trump’s suitability for office and speaking out against sexual harassment.
Watching Kelly press forward while the future president of the United States publicly suggested she had “blood coming out of her wherever” was impressive, and it made some women who weren’t necessarily Fox News viewers start to admire her. Surely that’s part of the reason why NBC thought she’d be a transformative figure for Today, someone who could maintain the show’s yoga-mom audience and perhaps lure in a new, more conservative demo on top of it.
That didn’t happen. Since Kelly came onboard, ratings for Today’s 9 a.m. hour have gone down, not up. So far in this deal, NBC has lost its dominance over the time slot, the $69 million Kelly was paid, whatever else NBC spent on her expensive-looking set, and former Today host Tamron Hall. (There is something both fitting and depressing about a blackface controversy potentially being the nail in Megyn Kelly Today’s coffin, considering that hiring her to replace Hall and Al Roker, who used to co-host the 9 a.m. block, was called out as an act of whitewashing.) Now, in concert with other serious problems that have surfaced related to Today — ahem, Matt Lauer— the news division is also losing another part of its once-stellar reputation.
NBC and Today execs wound up in this position because they were seduced by the persona Kelly very shrewdly crafted for herself. As Jennifer Senior noted in her New York Times review of Kelly’s book, Settle for More, “She is trying simultaneously to appeal to both her new ‘Lean-In’ fan base and the regular Fox news watchers who abhor identity politics.” It was working for a little while, too. But as Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Kelly showed us who she was five years ago on Fox News when she said that Santa Claus is most definitely white and so was Jesus Christ. That’s why on Tuesday, it wasn’t at all surprising when she so confidently stated, “You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay just as long as you were dressing as a character.” It was only surprising that it took this long for her to say something on Today that was so glaringly racist and stupid.
But this is hardly the first time Kelly has shown poor judgment on the air. In the middle of NBC’s coverage of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, she noted that the phrase “believe women” is “an absurd statement,” a jarring point to make when the audience was still processing Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. In both of these instances, Kelly has shown that she is not suited to be a journalist for NBC News — a job that, given the chatty nature of the Today show, sometimes requires the sharing of opinion, but is a much more down-the-middle, noninflammatory exercise than working at Fox News.
This week she also demonstrated what, as a white woman myself, I can say is the worst quality in a lot of white women: a steadfast refusal to do the humbling work of trying to understand the perspectives of those different from you. It is hard to believe that, in the 24 hours between Kelly’s initial comments and her publicly issued apology, she could have suddenly, fully understood why what she said about blackface was so egregious. If she made this mistake years after White Santa, that says something about her worldview that a single day of backlash-induced shame can’t fix.
What Kelly said in her apology also speaks to her lack of sincere atonement. “I have never been a P.C. kind of person, but I do understand the value in being sensitive to our history, particularly on race and ethnicity,” she said. Although she went on to say how people need to be more understanding in this polarized moment, and then spoke to her desire to set a better example in that regard, she lost me by starting that sentiment with “I have never been P.C.” Not being “P.C.” is a matter of pride for many conservative media personalities — not to mention ordinary Trump supporters themselves — because they use the term to describe the very sensitivity to which Kelly claims to aspire. Being too sensitive is a moral failing in their eyes, the sort of flaw that only snowflakes possess. Megyn Kelly is still very proud to not be “P.C.,” too, but it’s quite difficult to feel that way and be more sensitive to others at the same time. It’s like claiming to be hard-core punk rock while listening to Ed Sheeran. You can’t credibly do both simultaneously.
If you watch Megyn Kelly Today’s full Halloween costume segment, which still hasn’t been dissected in its entirety to the extent it deserves to be, her pride in her lack of P.C.-ness comes blaring through loud and clear.
“Truly political correctness has gone amok,” she says at the top of the piece, adding that “the costume police are cracking down like never before.” Kelly then frames the segment around rules laid out by a U.K. university that bans students from wearing certain costumes this year. One of those banned costumes is a cowboy, which, yeah, I’ll agree seems excessive. But Kelly goes on to express outrage that students are also barred from dressing like Harvey Weinstein, Mexicans, or Native Americans. “That’s apparently been a rule for some time,” she says dismissively about the no-Native Americans policy. She also expresses frustration with broader edicts from the power-mad costume police, like the fact that you can’t dress as Anne Frank or a handmaid from The Handmaid’s Tale. Panelist Jenna Bush Hager corrects her on that last one, noting that it’s going as a “sexy” handmaid that’s problematic. “Get over it,” Kelly responds. “Wear what you want!”
A steaming cup of “get over it” is not what most people crave from their morning-coffee television. They know they’re going to get that all day long from Twitter, their co-workers, cable news, and the Facebook rants that their aunt insists on posting multiple times a day. At a moment when everything seems partisan, even the institutions that used to at least pretend not to be, viewers don’t need the Today show joining that trend.
By Jen Chaney@chaneyj
Megyn Kelly on her Today show set. Photo: NBCUniversal Media/Getty Images
Is Megyn Kelly’s lease on the third hour of NBC’s Today show finally about to expire? After stating during a panel discussion on Megyn Kelly Today that she didn’t understand why wearing blackface on Halloween is racist, Kelly’s morning show has reportedly been canceled. It’s unclear whether she will remain part of the NBC News team, and her lawyers will meet with NBC executives to discuss her future at the network as soon as Friday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly had previously expressed an interest in covering news and politics in another capacity, but her blackface controversy may now make that an impossibility.
If the former Fox News anchor does wind up departing NBC, whether it’s voluntary or not, some may characterize her dismissal as punishment for her defense of blackface. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes at Today, but my sense is that this is just the straw that broke NBC News chairman Andrew Lack’s back. “There is no other way to put this, but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate,” Lack said at an NBC town hall on Wednesday. If he’s probably known for a while that he needed to divorce Kelly from Today, the fact that she announced it’s okay for white people to go full minstrel show provides the excuse he needs to finally cut the cord.
I say that Lack has probably known that he needed to end Megyn Kelly Today because it seems impossible that he didn’t. Kelly’s NBC colleagues likely knew, too. Observers of its poor ratings knew, as did anyone who has ever watched Megyn Kelly Today for more than 45 seconds. As I wrote last year after the disastrous first week of this misguided experiment in morning television, Kelly’s personality doesn’t fit the Today show brand. Over the past 12 months, that fundamental truth has not changed.
pipe bombs being sent to Barack Obama — but it’s also meant to be a warm, comforting part of Americans’ daily routines. That’s not who Megyn Kelly is or what she represents, at least as a television personality. If you asked me to free-associate adjectives that describe her, we’d be both here until Election Day before I ever got to “warm” or “comforting.”
Megyn Kelly was groomed as a broadcaster on Fox News, where being a white person who says whatever white thoughts enter one’s white head is an asset rather than a liability. Like so much of the on-air talent there, she was rewarded for saying the things that everyone — “everyone” being mostly white, conservative people — is supposedly thinking but doesn’t say. That quality, by the way, is one of the same things that Trump supporters often mention when asked to explain why they like him so much. Donald Trump fits in beautifully with the Fox News modus operandi, and so did Megyn Kelly, at least until she started questioning Trump’s suitability for office and speaking out against sexual harassment.
Watching Kelly press forward while the future president of the United States publicly suggested she had “blood coming out of her wherever” was impressive, and it made some women who weren’t necessarily Fox News viewers start to admire her. Surely that’s part of the reason why NBC thought she’d be a transformative figure for Today, someone who could maintain the show’s yoga-mom audience and perhaps lure in a new, more conservative demo on top of it.
That didn’t happen. Since Kelly came onboard, ratings for Today’s 9 a.m. hour have gone down, not up. So far in this deal, NBC has lost its dominance over the time slot, the $69 million Kelly was paid, whatever else NBC spent on her expensive-looking set, and former Today host Tamron Hall. (There is something both fitting and depressing about a blackface controversy potentially being the nail in Megyn Kelly Today’s coffin, considering that hiring her to replace Hall and Al Roker, who used to co-host the 9 a.m. block, was called out as an act of whitewashing.) Now, in concert with other serious problems that have surfaced related to Today — ahem, Matt Lauer— the news division is also losing another part of its once-stellar reputation.
NBC and Today execs wound up in this position because they were seduced by the persona Kelly very shrewdly crafted for herself. As Jennifer Senior noted in her New York Times review of Kelly’s book, Settle for More, “She is trying simultaneously to appeal to both her new ‘Lean-In’ fan base and the regular Fox news watchers who abhor identity politics.” It was working for a little while, too. But as Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Kelly showed us who she was five years ago on Fox News when she said that Santa Claus is most definitely white and so was Jesus Christ. That’s why on Tuesday, it wasn’t at all surprising when she so confidently stated, “You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay just as long as you were dressing as a character.” It was only surprising that it took this long for her to say something on Today that was so glaringly racist and stupid.
But this is hardly the first time Kelly has shown poor judgment on the air. In the middle of NBC’s coverage of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, she noted that the phrase “believe women” is “an absurd statement,” a jarring point to make when the audience was still processing Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. In both of these instances, Kelly has shown that she is not suited to be a journalist for NBC News — a job that, given the chatty nature of the Today show, sometimes requires the sharing of opinion, but is a much more down-the-middle, noninflammatory exercise than working at Fox News.
This week she also demonstrated what, as a white woman myself, I can say is the worst quality in a lot of white women: a steadfast refusal to do the humbling work of trying to understand the perspectives of those different from you. It is hard to believe that, in the 24 hours between Kelly’s initial comments and her publicly issued apology, she could have suddenly, fully understood why what she said about blackface was so egregious. If she made this mistake years after White Santa, that says something about her worldview that a single day of backlash-induced shame can’t fix.
What Kelly said in her apology also speaks to her lack of sincere atonement. “I have never been a P.C. kind of person, but I do understand the value in being sensitive to our history, particularly on race and ethnicity,” she said. Although she went on to say how people need to be more understanding in this polarized moment, and then spoke to her desire to set a better example in that regard, she lost me by starting that sentiment with “I have never been P.C.” Not being “P.C.” is a matter of pride for many conservative media personalities — not to mention ordinary Trump supporters themselves — because they use the term to describe the very sensitivity to which Kelly claims to aspire. Being too sensitive is a moral failing in their eyes, the sort of flaw that only snowflakes possess. Megyn Kelly is still very proud to not be “P.C.,” too, but it’s quite difficult to feel that way and be more sensitive to others at the same time. It’s like claiming to be hard-core punk rock while listening to Ed Sheeran. You can’t credibly do both simultaneously.
If you watch Megyn Kelly Today’s full Halloween costume segment, which still hasn’t been dissected in its entirety to the extent it deserves to be, her pride in her lack of P.C.-ness comes blaring through loud and clear.
“Truly political correctness has gone amok,” she says at the top of the piece, adding that “the costume police are cracking down like never before.” Kelly then frames the segment around rules laid out by a U.K. university that bans students from wearing certain costumes this year. One of those banned costumes is a cowboy, which, yeah, I’ll agree seems excessive. But Kelly goes on to express outrage that students are also barred from dressing like Harvey Weinstein, Mexicans, or Native Americans. “That’s apparently been a rule for some time,” she says dismissively about the no-Native Americans policy. She also expresses frustration with broader edicts from the power-mad costume police, like the fact that you can’t dress as Anne Frank or a handmaid from The Handmaid’s Tale. Panelist Jenna Bush Hager corrects her on that last one, noting that it’s going as a “sexy” handmaid that’s problematic. “Get over it,” Kelly responds. “Wear what you want!”
A steaming cup of “get over it” is not what most people crave from their morning-coffee television. They know they’re going to get that all day long from Twitter, their co-workers, cable news, and the Facebook rants that their aunt insists on posting multiple times a day. At a moment when everything seems partisan, even the institutions that used to at least pretend not to be, viewers don’t need the Today show joining that trend.
You gotta love white people,now they're bringing up the movie White Chicks acting like it's the same thing.....lol
She will get every penny of it.
I agree that they probably won't give her 69 mill. However, she is getting something. I say that because NBC must have given her free reign to do what she wants. How else could that topic and her perspective have made the air in the first place? And with her prior history of topics, she could probably sue NBC and argue they knew what they were getting.
I agree. NBC jumped on the bandwagon of the Political climate and tried to sway as many of those Faux viewers over as they could. It was doomed to fail. With the percentage of women who voted for Trump, they are watching Faux undercover too.
They wanted to attempt to replicate a watered down version of Kelly's Faux persona for Ad revenue and rating, but it did not compute nor translate. Not in the way that they did it anyway. She was not a good fit for the Today Show, I don't think.
She will not likely get 69 mil out of it, but she's hired an attorney to leverage as much of it as she can based on the fact that NBC went into this contract having knowledge of HER track record, her persona, and what they wanted her to bring to the table...subtle bigotry for bucks.
Because ABC is burying them in the ratings. Some can argue something about Micheal ...She actually tried going to ABC News..they basically told her go on somewhere
Somebody upstairs wanted her bent over the couch in his office.
Don't think for a second that shit don't happen anymore....
*two cents*
He's right, they didn't fire her because of the blackface comments, it gave them an excuse because her ratings were horrible on that show. Only thing I will disagree with him on is that cacs don't know what it is, they know. Here is a cac trying to defend it.
this guys the biggest fucking idiot I’m the left. Can’t stand the young Turks. His bullshit white people dint know why blackface is offensive is lunacy.
Boom.
You know annoys me,every time a situation like this happens. The network get a black person to explain,why something wrong. White people know what's racist yet we're the ones gotta explain to them knowing they will do it again...
And,then after the black person finished explaining why something is racist, the whole community is expected to forgive that white person....what kind of fuck shit is that...lol
And,then after the black person finished explaining why something is racist, the whole community is expected to forgive that white person....what kind of fuck shit is that...lol
Megyn Kelly, NBC Spar Over Restrictions in Exit Talks
By BRIAN STEINBERG
Brian Steinberg
Senior TV Editor@bristeiFOLLOW
Brian's Most Recent Stories
CREDIT: INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Megyn Kelly and NBCUniversal executives don’t agree on much these days, but representatives for both sides are likely to have the same opinion on their current separation talks: They aren’t over yet.
The anchor and the media company, working out an exit for Kelly after the cancellation of her morning program, are said to be at odds over the structure of non-disclosure and non-compete stipulations that could restrict Kelly after she leaves, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kelly could not be reached for immediate comment. NBC News declined to comment. Kelly is represented by California attorney Bryan Freedman. In a statement released late last week, the attorney said Kelly remained an NBCUniversal employee and that the two sides were working out next steps.
These types of discussions are common in separation negotiations. Sticking points in the current talks, which remain fluid, concern the length of time Kelly could not work elsewhere, and what she might or might not be able to say about her soon-to-be former employer, this person said.
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High-end contracts for media talent tend to contain maps for how to proceed in case of disagreements, said James G. Sammataro, a partner at the Stroock law firm who often represents TV and radio stations in disputes with on-air personnel. The contract may even have a work-out formula that lays out how much Kelly would get paid in case of separation, he said. Typical contracts might use length of employment term to determine how much of the monies remaining to be paid are given out, he added.
RELATED
Why Megyn Kelly and NBC Were Always a Bad Fit (Analysis)
NBC's Third Hour of ‘Today’ Remains Work in Progress
NBC canceled Kelly’s morning program, “Megyn KellyToday,” late last week in the wake of last Tuesday’s broadcast during which Kelly led a discussion about Halloween costumes and blackface that spurred immediate offense. NBC News executives had been in loose talks to find her a new role, one that would involve her in hard news stories rather than the lighter fare of her morning program, but those conversations were derailed. The discussion also drew criticism from NBC News colleagues including Al Roker and Craig Melvin.
By BRIAN STEINBERG
Brian Steinberg
Senior TV Editor@bristeiFOLLOW
Brian's Most Recent Stories
- Why Megyn Kelly and NBC Were Always a Bad Fit (Analysis)
- David Poltrack, Dean of TV Research Chiefs and 50-Year CBS Veteran, to Retire in 2019 (EXCLUSIVE)
- Megyn Kelly, NBC Spar Over Restrictions in Exit Talks
CREDIT: INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Megyn Kelly and NBCUniversal executives don’t agree on much these days, but representatives for both sides are likely to have the same opinion on their current separation talks: They aren’t over yet.
The anchor and the media company, working out an exit for Kelly after the cancellation of her morning program, are said to be at odds over the structure of non-disclosure and non-compete stipulations that could restrict Kelly after she leaves, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kelly could not be reached for immediate comment. NBC News declined to comment. Kelly is represented by California attorney Bryan Freedman. In a statement released late last week, the attorney said Kelly remained an NBCUniversal employee and that the two sides were working out next steps.
These types of discussions are common in separation negotiations. Sticking points in the current talks, which remain fluid, concern the length of time Kelly could not work elsewhere, and what she might or might not be able to say about her soon-to-be former employer, this person said.
ADVERTISING
High-end contracts for media talent tend to contain maps for how to proceed in case of disagreements, said James G. Sammataro, a partner at the Stroock law firm who often represents TV and radio stations in disputes with on-air personnel. The contract may even have a work-out formula that lays out how much Kelly would get paid in case of separation, he said. Typical contracts might use length of employment term to determine how much of the monies remaining to be paid are given out, he added.
RELATED
Why Megyn Kelly and NBC Were Always a Bad Fit (Analysis)
NBC's Third Hour of ‘Today’ Remains Work in Progress
NBC canceled Kelly’s morning program, “Megyn KellyToday,” late last week in the wake of last Tuesday’s broadcast during which Kelly led a discussion about Halloween costumes and blackface that spurred immediate offense. NBC News executives had been in loose talks to find her a new role, one that would involve her in hard news stories rather than the lighter fare of her morning program, but those conversations were derailed. The discussion also drew criticism from NBC News colleagues including Al Roker and Craig Melvin.
WTF Lenard trying to DEFEND Megyn Kelly?????
@3:20
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