UPDATE: Oct. 25, 2018 at 3:03 p.m. EST
NBC has confirmed that Megyn Kelly will not tape live shows for the rest of the week following controversial comments she made about blackface.
According to Page Six, Kelly is out at the network. Meanwhile, an NBC executive with knowledge of the situation, reportedly told DailyMail.com on Thursday: “Megyn Kelly is done. She is not ever coming back. We are just working out timing of the announcement but mark my word she is gone and will never be seen on NBC live again.”
ORIGINAL STORY
The backlash on social media was swift after Megyn Kelly questioned on her morning TV program on Tuesday whether or not using blackface for a Halloween costume is racist. “Megyn Kelly Today” is said to be on the chopping block.
Kelly’s tone-deaf remarks:
“What is racist, because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween, or a Black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. When I was a kid that was okay as long as you were dressed like a character.”
The former Fox News anchor had conversations with NBC News executives about her taking a new role at the news division, a source told Variety. Apparently, the conversations about ending Kelly’s show began before this week’s controversy.
Meanwhile, two people familiar with the situation confirmed to CNN Business that the daytime show will be ending. The end date and other details are still being negotiated, and Kelly reportedly will not be hosting Thursday’s program, and she is unlikely to return.
Related Story: Megyn Kelly ‘Apologizes’ for On-Air ‘Blackface’ Comment
Kelly joined NBC News in March 2017, ending her tenure at Fox, where she once slammed the suggestion that Santa Claus should not be a white man any more.
“Yet another person claiming it’s racist to have a white Santa,” she said, adding “And, by the way for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white Jesus was a white man too.”
That was kind of a red flag that NBC executives missed, or, most likely, chose to ignore.
“Today” show host Al Roker, who’s had a longtime career at NBC, was outraged by Kelly’s comments:
“The fact is, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country,” Roker said.
“This is a history, going back to the 1830s [with] 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 just magnifying the stereotypes about Black people. And that’s what the big problem is. No good comes from it. It’s just not right.”
