Megyn Kelly Today, the new show on NBC that follows the popular Today Show, pumped up its first guests for weeks before the show debuted on Monday.
The cast of Will & Grace, which is getting a reboot and premieres on Thursday, were in the house — Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally.
Kelly, the former Fox News star, called onto the stage a superfan from the audience, Russell Turner, to meet his television idols.
And then it got weird.
Kelly asked Turner if he became both a lawyer and gay because of the show, which features an openly homosexual character. The superfan downplayed the question a bit, saying: “I look at Will Truman and I’m like, he has it made: lawyer, apartment in New York City and gay? Come on.”
Russell was whisked off the stage quickly, with Kelly saying, “I don’t know about the lawyer thing, but I think the Will and Grace thing and the gay thing will work out great.”
Oof.
After the show, Messing, the show’s star, was not at all happy. She was asked by a fan on Instagram: “Why did you guys do the Megyn Kelly show? That’s a fail!!”
Messing wrote back: “Honestly I didn’t know it was MK [Megyn Kelly] until that morning. The itinerary just said Today Show appearance. Regret going on. Dismayed by her comments.”
While a Fox host, Kelly made several controversial comments about the LGBT community. Once on The Kelly File, appearing with Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, she said: “Gay rights are more and more protected in this country, Christian beliefs and Christian rights, not so much.”
The Megyn Kelly Today show is, so far, pretty much a disaster. The nonstop hugging is bizarre, and in each episode so far, Kelly has given away thousands of dollars worth of stuff, apparently trying to become the new Oprah.
She’s often clumsy, too, interviewing Hollywood stars. On Wednesday, she sat down with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. She asked the 79-year-old actress: “You admit you had work done. I think it’s to your credit. You look amazing. … I read you felt you’re not proud to admit you had work done, why not?”
With a steely look and no hint of a smile, Fonda said, “We really want to talk about that now?” Then she proceeded to not talk about it.
Double oof.