NBC should just fire Megyn Kelly already

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published


Sarah Wasko / Media Matters

Reports indicate that Megyn Kelly may be leaving NBC, and that Megyn Kelly Today may have been cancelled. NBC should just cut its losses entirely and move on.

Statement from Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters:

Before Megyn Kelly’s show on NBC even started, we had warned that Megyn Kelly’s record of perpetuating racism was well-established, ran deep and was unlikely to change. Given that record, it was a bad business decision for NBC to hire her to begin with, and throughout her time at NBC, it remained a bad business decision to continue employing her. Moving Kelly into a larger role in news would only compound those errors - undermining the quality of NBC’s news programming and running the risk of a business backlash.

While it’s good to see that NBC rebuked Kelly’s recent comments defending blackface and allowed its other on-air talent to do the same, it’s time for some action. NBC knew full well what it was getting when the network hired Kelly.

NBC should cut its losses and terminate Kelly’s contract.

What we said when NBC hired her remains true today: You can take Kelly out of Fox News, but you can’t take the Fox News out of Kelly.

In June 2017, ahead of Kelly’s debut on NBC, Media Matters published a report chronicling some of Kelly’s worst moments at Fox News, pointing out that she had:

There is no reason for NBC to be surprised at what ensued.