There are subjects to avoid when going on a look-at-me-spree while hosting a news program – like claiming Santa Claus is a white man, oh, and that so was Jesus Christ. Sounds slightly harmless, however grossly inaccurate, with one being a fictional character and the other the son of God born to a middle eastern mother.
But what is going to get you fired by a national news network is wondering – out loud – why celebrants sporting blackface on Halloween should not be considered A-Okay. Megyn Kelly, the utterer of all aforementioned comments, is paying the price of foot-in-mouth disease as she finds herself unemployed after making a mildly racial statement during Megyn Kelly Today.
Suffice it to say, Kelly is off the holiday cocktail circuit.
Being Unpopular Sucks
Megyn Kelly was the darling of Fox News as soon as she hit the airwaves in 2004. Blond locks, blue eyes, and a legal background had tongues wagging and ratings soaring. Within months, Kelly was given her own show, The Kelly File, where she employed the “gotcha” technique on unsuspecting guests.
The hardline approach on liberals and conservatives had loyal Fox viewers cringing and Democrats crossing their fingers. But it was her less than stellar performance as moderator of the Republican primary presidential debate that had the Murdoch boys scratching their heads. Kelly led by asking Trump if he had the temperament to be president, saying, “you’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and disgusting animals.’” That was the beginning of the end for Megyn Kelly.
The Liberal Love
Oh, the liberal press had so much hope for Megyn Kelly. They embraced her while at Fox News as a hard-hitting, level-headed woman who played tough with their sworn enemies: Republicans. And when her tiara was smacked off her head at Fox News, the advocacy media was ready to show Megyn the love and respect she deserved for being a mean girl to Trump.
And it made NBC the morally superior network standout for rescuing the damsel in distress from the misogynists at Fox News.
But NBC, after penning a $69 million contract, soon found that who they hired was actually Megyn Kelly – a notoriously non-politically correct narcissistic loud mouth. Uh oh.
Ratings Plunge
Kelly did not perform well during her short stint at the peacock. She was vilified at every turn, for every slight and misdeed performed at NBC on live television. From softball questions in an exclusive interview with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to her not standing by former NBC nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw when he was named as a #MeToo abuser, Kelly upset the NBC apple cart.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”24″]How did she not know what a firestorm that careless remark would spark?[/perfectpullquote]
Instead of joining a team of women journalists who came to the man’s defense, Kelly disappointed by being, well, Megyn Kelly: “I will say, the same thing did happen at Fox and the truth is, you don’t know what you don’t know.” Kelly did not fit in with the bleating force-fed narratives promoted by the network.
The final straw, ratings aside, was her most recent comments about the use of blackface as a costume enhancement. How did she not know what a firestorm that careless remark would spark?
But the fire at 30 Rock is ablaze, and Kelly’s image hangs in effigy.
And so another self-important blowhard of the advocacy media makes her way off the stage amidst rumor and innuendo. But where will Kelly reappear once the stench of ignorance is washed from her shiny blonde locks? Time will tell.
