Megyn Kelly is finished, and everyone but NBC saw it coming
Earlier this year, Roseanne Barr was fired from the revival of her eponymous television show, after a late night racist tweet aimed at former White House advisor Valerie Jarrett: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Despite her various half-hearted attempts at apologies (she called the comment “bad taste) and subsequent explanations (first she blamed her use of Ambien and then claimed to not even know that Jarrett was black), Barr’s days with ABC and her show were finished.
Barr’s subsequent outrage at being held accountable for her own actions has surprised many people, but it shouldn’t. Barr had long seen herself as untouchable, despite her increasingly toxic presence on social media. In fact, ABC’s decision to bring her back and give her a platform for her political views, and the success of her show, seemed to make Barr think she could get away with anything. She learned otherwise the hard way.
One would have thought this might have served as a lesson for NBC’s Megyn Kelly. The former Fox News personality joined NBC with much fanfare in 2017. Her three-year, $69 million contract capped off a tumultuous year for Kelly who found herself a frequent target for Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. However, what was conveniently overlooked during all of this is that Megyn Kelly was a misogynistic bigot. Long before she became a mother herself, Kelly railed against women wanting maternity leave. However when she ended up using the same “entitlement” herself, she defended it vigorously. The hypocrisy was pointed out by Jon Stewart. Kelly also famously declared to all children everywhere that “Santa Claus is White.”
It should have come as no surprise this week when Megyn Kelly rambled on about how blackface wasn’t racist if it was a Halloween costume. The person who seemed most surprised by all of it was Kelly herself. This is a woman who is so firmly wrapped in her white, blonde privilege that she truly didn’t understand the controversy. It is doubtful that she gained any understanding after the fact, despite claiming so in her in apology. Kelly, like Barr, was shocked to find herself in the hot seat at NBC, and now it appears NBC is cutting its losses and Kelly is being cut loose.
While ABC and NBC can be applauded for their swift condemnation of both of their stars, they must also be held responsible for giving these two figures a platform to begin with. By legitimizing public figures who are known for their controversial statements and actions, they are inviting this inevitable outcome. Many people have asked “what were they (the networks) thinking?” Clearly, they were thinking that ratings were worth it.
