Multiple talent reps say the “Hanoi Jane” remarks have made them reconsider booking clients on ‘Megyn Kelly Today.’ “Actors don’t trust her,” says a publicist.
Is Megyn Kelly’s Monday morning takedown of Jane Fonda — in which Kelly invoked Fonda’s Vietnam-era Hanoi Jane sobriquet — the first of more provocations? Or was it a one-off?
Those close to Kelly tell The Hollywood Reporter that she had had enough of Fonda’s insults stemming from an interview on Megyn Kelly Today back in September, during the first week of Kelly’s show. That’s when Fonda abruptly shut down Kelly’s questions about plastic surgery, a topic Fonda has openly discussed in past media appearances.
The tipping point was a Jan. 20 interview Fonda did with Variety in which she said she was “stunned” by the question, asserting that it “showed that [Kelly] is not that good an interviewer.” She added that she would come back on Kelly’s show “if she comes around and learns her stuff.”
Kelly prepared the script over the weekend and delivered it during the final minutes of Monday’s show. NBC News management was aware of her impending remarks, sources tell THR.
Reaction inside and outside NBC News was swift and extreme. The View panelists — and guest host Ann Curry — tore Kelly apart. Joy Behar called her a “bitch”; minutes later, she apologized, rescinding the epithet. Wendy Williams accused Kelly of doing it “for ratings.” Inside NBC News, the characterizations included “outrageous” and “awful.” One person questioned the wisdom of using NBC News as a platform to “settle a personal score.”
Read More at: HollywoodReporter.com