Megyn Kelly apologized to NBC colleagues on Tuesday after wondering aloud on her morning show why it was inappropriate for white people to dress up in blackface for Halloween.
Her comments set social media aflame, and Ms. Kelly was one of the top trending topics on Twitter for much of the day.
The blackface episode was the latest flare-up in her bumpy 13-month foray into morning television, which has drawn so-so ratings and occasional criticism.
In the opening minutes of her 9 a.m. show, “Megyn Kelly Today,” the host was in a round-table discussion with the former “Fashion Police” host Melissa Rivers and two NBC colleagues — Jacob Soboroff and Jenna Bush Hager — to discuss how “the costume police are cracking down” on Halloween costumes, as Ms. Kelly put it.
“You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween,” Ms. Kelly said. “Back when I was a kid, that was O.K., as long as you were dressing up as a character.”
Ms. Kelly went on to cite the example of Luann de Lesseps, a cast member of “The Real Housewives of New York,” who came under fire this year for dressing up as Diana Ross, complete with an outsize Afro wig. Ms. Kelly added that she found the criticism of the “Housewives” star perplexing.
“She dressed as Diana Ross, and she made her skin look darker than it really is,” Ms. Kelly said. “And people said that that was racist. And I don’t know, I felt like, who doesn’t love Diana Ross?”
Shortly after Mr. Soboroff noted that the choice of costume struck him as “a little racist,” Ms. Kelly said, “I can’t keep up with the number of people that we’re offending just by being normal people.”
Several hours after she was widely criticized on social media for her remarks, Ms. Kelly sent an apologetic email to her NBC colleagues.
“I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry,” she wrote. “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep. I’ve never been a ‘pc’ kind of person — but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age.”
She continued: “Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year. This is a time for more understanding, love, sensitivity and honor, and I want to be part of that.”
During Ms. Kelly’s rocky tenure at NBC News, she has offended a celebrity guest (the actress Jane Fonda), ruffled network feathers with her coverage of Matt Lauer’s #MeToo scandal and sparked ire over a smiling photograph with an interview subject, the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Ms. Kelly joined NBC after spending more than a decade as an anchor at the Fox News Channel. Her Tuesday morning comments recalled a 2013 on-air discussion, hosted by Ms. Kelly on the race of Santa Claus, that drew widespread criticism. “For all you kids watching at home,” Ms. Kelly said, “Santa just is white.”
In her first year at NBC, Ms. Kelly’s hourlong portion of “Today” averaged 2.4 million viewers, a drop of nearly 400,000 from the same hour’s average before her arrival, according to Nielsen. Ms. Kelly’s show also trailed a rival morning program, “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” by a wide margin.
While Ms. Kelly was sharing her thoughts on blackface on NBC, the “Live” host Kelly Ripa was asking her co-host, Ryan Seacrest, about his predawn workout routine.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The New York Times