On Friday evening, former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was the featured guest on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
During the segment, Kelly and host Bill Maher covered multiple topics, including sexual harassment at Fox, how the media is “broken,” honesty in reporting, and cancel culture.
Regarding the movie “Bombshell,” which depicted the alleged sexual harassment faced by female Fox News employees under late CEO Roger Ailes, Kelly said the she sees the film as a “force for good because it helps shine a light on how it&#8217;s done,” and “how women who may not be that well connected” like herself and Gretchen Carlson, faced the same issue.
Maher interjected: “You had that in common. You both had to twirl for Roger Ailes.”
Kelly explained that the “twirl,” as well as “worse things” that happened to her, aren’t necessarily about the acts themselves, but about being demeaned and controlled.
Maher moved on to media, asking Kelly what she means when she says that the “media is broken.”
Kelly replied:
<blockquote>You know it&#8217;s true, right? The media is so messed up. It’s disheartening to me, and I&#8217;ve felt this way for a long time – not just since Trump. And I know Trump&#8217;s rhetoric is too strong – “enemy of the people” and all that, and I know why he says it. There [are] still amazing journalists out there doing great work, but the media is completely biased.</blockquote>
At this point, Maher tried to claim that the media isn’t really politically biased because Fox News exists, to which Kelly noted that the reason Fox grew in popularity was because it was the singular outlet that represented “the other side of the coin.”
Maher then claimed that the media is truly biased toward “money and conflict because that’s what sells.” He then cited the alleged disappointment he saw in the media when the recent Second Amendment rally in Virginia turned out to be peaceful.
“That’s what I think the media bias is, more than politics,” Maher said.
Kelly shot back, saying that even though she believes that there was a “liberal slant in the media” prior to President Trump, it has developed into something much greater since he took office:
<blockquote>Take CNN – he came in there and said, “CNN is completely biased to the left, they’re lefties, they&#8217;re completely against me,” and my take on it was in the beginning, he was wrong. CNN wasn&#8217;t that way. I used to watch CNN all the time when I was at Fox. When I was getting ready for the “Kelly File,” I&#8217;d have on CNN, and I&#8217;d watch a lot of their shows, and I liked a lot of the anchors over there.</blockquote>
However, suggested Kelly, CNN has now become “the thing Trump said they were,” and are “indistinguishable from MSNBC.”
Maher pushed back, saying it’s “very hard to cover a guy like Trump who does awful things.” Kelly agreed, but then Maher added that such coverage would make anchors or networks “look left-wing.”
Kelly disagreed, telling Maher that one can remain journalistically non-biased even in the face of a difficult president:
<blockquote>I totally disagree with you. When I was doing “The Kelly File” at primetime 9 p.m. on Fox News, he was attacking me for nine months straight, right? Saying outrageous things. It took everything in me to go out on the set night after night and not make it personal, and not have a vendetta against him, and not be overly harsh on him because of what he was doing to me and my family – but I did it. It’s doable. You just have to remember, it&#8217;s not about you! It’s about the audience and the truth.</blockquote>
Later in the segment, the two spoke about political correctness and “cancel culture.”
“I was angry for you, honestly,” Maher said of NBC firing Kelly after her comments about blackface. “Because this cancel culture – it&#8217;s so funny, when they do polls, they find like 80% to 90% of the people in this county hate this s***.”
Maher asked: “Who are these perfect people who have never made any mistake?”
Kelly replied:
<blockquote>I mean, my own take on it is, the country&#8217;s going through something right now, you know? Marginalized groups are rising up and trying to find positions at the table, equal positions, and that’s a good thing. The difference is in approach. How do we do it? And I understand this fight because as a woman and somebody who&#8217;s, you know, been in the position I was in that we talked about, I have also felt marginalized at times, and like I don&#8217;t have an equal footing, but the question is, do we do it with grace and humanity and understanding that people make mistakes and that we&#8217;re all imperfect and we&#8217;re gonna screw up &#8230; and kindness and an understanding that we&#8217;re all only here for a limited time and we can&#8217;t expect a perfect score?</blockquote>
“What’s galling is that the people who hate bullying are always bullying,” Maher said. “If you even talk about this, it’ll only make it worse. That&#8217;s bullying. The people who love diversity, except of opinion. There’s only one true opinion.”
Kelly noted that “the Right” has been saying the same thing about ideological diversity, to which Maher said that the Right engages in the snowflakery as well.
Speaking of the “woke” group, Maher stated: “They&#8217;re gross because all they care about is getting a scalp on the wall. They don&#8217;t care if you&#8217;re really a racist, which you&#8217;re not. They don&#8217;t care about a million things &#8230; and they always want to find the worst version of what any person is.”
Kelly agreed, adding that the way it used to be was younger generations taught older generations to see the world in a new way instead of having the older generations “cancelled because they didn&#8217;t immediately agree or start talking about the issues in the way they wanted.”
“We have to get back to talking to each other so there&#8217;s buy-in, so people feel heard, and we allow for disagreement, respectful, kindness,” Kelly concluded.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kxbht2rR-As" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Megyn Kelly

WATCH: Megyn Kelly Talks Intense ‘Media Bias’ And ‘Cancel Culture’ On Bill Maher

Bill Maher

Cancel culture

Fox News

Media Bias

Roger Ailes

Megyn Kelly, the former host of Fox News&#8217; &#8220;The Kelly File&#8221; (2013-17), is one of several women who have accused former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment during her tenure at the network. Along with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, Kelly&#8217;s allegations against Ailes are portrayed in the recent film &#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6394270/">Bombshell</a>&#8221; (2019), with Charlize Theron playing Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Carlson.
In a <a href="https://t.co/LCkdYvF6qr">video</a> published on her YouTube page on Thursday, Kelly captures her response to watching the film along with some of the other women who have come forward with accusations against the late-media mogul — talk show host Juliet Huddy, reporter Rudi Bakhtiar, and producer Julie Zann. The video includes a raw and often emotional discussion among the women about the alleged sexual harassment they each experienced at the hands of Ailes.
At one moment in the discussion, Kelly discusses a particularly demeaning incident in which Ailes asked her to &#8220;twirl&#8221; for him in his office — a request each of them experienced in some form, some complying and others refusing. Zann, who says she was unwittingly selected to be a &#8220;replacement&#8221; girl for Ailes, also describes the CEO allegedly spreading his legs and trying to pressure her to perform oral sex on him, which she refused to do.
&#8220;The movie &#8216;Bombshell&#8217; is a Hollywood film about the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News,&#8221; Kelly wrote in a tweet that includes the 30-minute video. &#8220;I have no connection to the film, and hold no stake at all in it. I do, however, have a connection to many of the women who actually lived it. Here is their account.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The movie “Bombshell” is a Hollywood film about the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News. I have no connection to the film, and hold no stake at all in it. I do, however, have a connection to many of the women who actually lived it. Here is their account. <a href="https://t.co/LCkdYvF6qr">https://t.co/LCkdYvF6qr</a>
&mdash; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1215379015353208843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Amid a series of accusations, prompted by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/fox-news-host-gretchen-carlson-sues-ceo-roger-ailes-sexual-n604721">Carlson&#8217;s sexual harassment lawsuit</a>, Ailes resigned on July 21, 2016 as chairman and CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, and Chairman of Fox Television Stations. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fox-news-founder-roger-ailes-dead-age-77-james-barrett">died</a> of hemophilia less than a year later, on May 18, 2017, at age 77.
In an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megyn-kelly-details-sexually-harassed-roger-ailes-fox-news-2017-11">interview</a> at Business Insider&#8217;s IGNITION conference in November 2017, Kelly described in detail the alleged sexual harassment she experienced while working for Ailes.
&#8220;[H]e harassed me early on in my tenure at FOX and we got past it,&#8221; Kelly told BI&#8217;s Alyson Shontell. &#8220;So those promotions and all that happened after we got past it. But I was scared when it happened to me. I was second-year reporter at FOX. I wasn&#8217;t the me that I am now. I had no power in the industry at all. And no power at FOX News.&#8221;
&#8220;I was working the D.C. bureau, and I was doing it. I was doing well. I was making my bones,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;I was reporting on big cases at the Supreme Court using my legal background, breaking news. The Duke alleged rape case was a big case for me, and I got that one right and most reporters didn&#8217;t. It was good for me. My career was going well. So when he started it wasn&#8217;t clear. Like, he was always bawdy and had an inappropriate sense of humor. But I&#8217;ve never been, some people feel differently, but I&#8217;ve never been somebody who really takes offense at that. So I was quick to write off the comments, like, &#8216;Oh, that&#8217;s just him.'&#8221;
&#8220;The harassment that I went through wasn&#8217;t obviously harassment in the beginning, and then it graduated,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;It just got worse and worse and worse, to the point where you couldn&#8217;t deny it. It was explicit quid pro quo sexual harassment, which was basically, you sleep with me and I&#8217;ll give you a promotion. And even in those moments I tried to laugh it off, and pretend I wasn&#8217;t hearing what I was hearing, or try to pretend that I had misunderstood, because I didn&#8217;t want a direct confrontation with him. I didn&#8217;t want to have to reject him explicitly, and I think this is telling, because a lot of women to whom this happens in the workplace have this calculation where you&#8217;re thinking, &#8216;Holy you know what. My whole job is on the line right now. The last thing I want to do is upset and reject my boss.&#8217; We generally want to charm our bosses and have them feel good about us.&#8221;
&#8220;And truly the culmination of it was in his office, because when you&#8217;d go in there and he&#8217;d shut the door and he&#8217;d lock the door,&#8221; said Kelly. &#8220;You would sort of shrug it off, because he was known to be very paranoid about security. But that feeling I&#8217;ll never forget of going in there and having him lock that door. So it culminated in him trying to be with me physically.&#8221;
&#8220;It was only at that point where you couldn&#8217;t pretend it wasn&#8217;t happening anymore that I really had to come to terms with it, and I ran out of the guy&#8217;s office, and he tried to grab me three times. Make out with me, which he didn&#8217;t,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I had to shove him off of me. And he came back. And I shoved him again, and he came back a third time. And then when I shoved him off a third time, he asked me when my contract was up.&#8221;
Asked how she responded, Kelly said, &#8220;I reported it to the supervisor who told me just to steer clear of him, which really at the time seemed like good advice, because it was a good way to navigate forward. But in retrospect was terrible, terrible advice.&#8221;

WATCH: Megyn Kelly, Other Accusers, Detail Alleged Sexual Harassment By Roger Ailes

Sexual Harassment

On Thursday, Major-General Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, was killed in an air strike ordered by President Trump. Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. forces.
The decision has divided Washington and the media, largely along party and ideological lines.
On Saturday, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sent out two not-so-cryptic tweets seemingly in response to the killing of Soleimani:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1213552939786096640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1213553331181764608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism. America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.</blockquote>
While Kaepernick wasn’t ratioed, with his tweets garnering a combined 134,000 “likes” and 29,900 retweets as of publication, the former quarterback was still roundly mocked by many.
Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly spiked Kaepenick on Saturday, writing: “Because everything is racist. Everything. Even fighting back against terrorists who kill Americans. Nike, feeling proud?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Because everything is racist. Everything. Even fighting back against terrorists who kill Americans. Nike, feeling proud? <a href="https://t.co/sfc1Yz3phY">https://t.co/sfc1Yz3phY</a>
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1213603362605658112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
Kelly’s tweet led to the following exchange with African American filmmaker Ava DuVernay:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
No, I will not be shamed over calling out bullshit claims of racism &#8211; which undermine the legitimate claims. Killing a terrorist is not about skin color; it’s about protecting our country from a guy who murdered hundreds of Americans, period.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1213890628435795974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
If you think Soleimani was killed because of his skin color, you’re the one who needs to educate herself. Work on shaming someone else.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1213892557861728262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>DUVERNAY: Shame on you, Megyn.
KELLY: No, I will not be shamed over calling out bulls*** claims of racism – which undermine the legitimate claims. Killing a terrorist is not about skin color; it’s about protecting our country from a guy who murdered hundreds of Americans, period.
DUVERNAY: You should be ashamed. Educate yourself before you talk about racism and legitimate claims. You sound like what you are. Ignorant. Attention seeking. And desperate. That will be all.
KELLY: If you think Soleimani was killed because of his skin color, you’re the one who needs to educate herself. Work on shaming someone else.</blockquote>
DuVernay then shared that she had “muted” Megyn Kelly on Twitter. The exchange led to comments both in support of Kelly as well as DuVernay.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
<a href="https://t.co/9rJ9bjZ7ct">pic.twitter.com/9rJ9bjZ7ct</a>
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) <a href="https://twitter.com/ava/status/1213892053504937984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
Following Kelly and DuVernay’s war of words, the former Fox News anchor sent another tweet pertaining to the killing of Soleimani:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
From <a href="https://twitter.com/WSJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WSJ</a>: 
Trump acted against a terrorist who killed hundreds of Americans.//Qasem Soleimani bestrode the Middle East spreading terror &amp; death. Trump’s decision to order the general’s death &#8230;is belated justice for the hundreds of Americans whom Soleimani had a hand in killing.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1213895641325297665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>From @WSJ : Trump acted against a terrorist who killed hundreds of Americans.//Qasem Soleimani bestrode the Middle East spreading terror &amp; death. Trump’s decision to order the general’s death &#8230; is belated justice for the hundreds of Americans whom Soleimani had a hand in killing.</blockquote>
Kaepernick was last in the news in November when he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/espns-stephen-smith-blasts-colin-kaepernick-he-dont-want-to-play-he-wants-to-be-a-martyr">ducked out</a> of an NFL “private workout” just half an hour prior to it starting. Kaepernick allegedly moved the workout to a new location because the league informed him that he would not be allowed to bring in his own film crew.
Following the stunt, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith blasted Kaepernick, saying in part:
<blockquote>You see? You see? He don’t want to play; he wants to be a martyr. But guess what? It ain’t working this time.</blockquote>
Smith added: “He wanted to show up to a high school in Georgia, not an NFL facility, a high school, and then YouTube it live – like the average Joe out there gets to decide if he’s on an NFL roster. You don’t want to work; you just want to make noise, and you want to control the narrative. It’s over. Colin Kaepernick’s aspiration in the NFL for an NFL career, it’s over.”

Journalist Megyn Kelly, former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

Megyn Kelly Spikes Kaepernick Over ‘American Terrorist’ Tweet; Gets Into Twitter War With Director Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay

Colin Kaepernick

Iran

The late and not so great “Nightly Show” sunk to a new low weeks before its cancellation.
The episode in question explored two Hispanic conservatives running for the highest office in the land – Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The show’s panel <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2016/08/16/larry-wilmores-show-is-a-victim-of-its-own-partisanship/">stripped the men of their cultural heritage</a> due to their party affiliation.
Consider the time [host Larry Wilmore] let one of the show’s correspondents question whether senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were “authentically Cuban-American.” He teed off the debate by insisting neither “embraces their Hispanic heritage.” Contributor Grace Parra added she didn’t consider them Latino herself.
That toxic moment reveals the fraud that is identity politics. It’s about ideology, and power, not culture, race or gender. It’s the same reason NOW sits on its corporate hands while <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/jefferies-colbert-trash-first-lady-melania-trump/">comedians sexualize the current First Lady.</a>
Something similar, albeit worse, is happening with “<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/bombshell-review/">Bombshell</a>.” The film, in limited release now but opening nationwide Dec. 20, tracks the fall of Fox News founder Roger Ailes. Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman star as Fox News employees who blew the whistle on Ailes’ serial sexual harassment.
The reviews, so far, are <a href="https://rottentomatoes.com/m/bombshell_2019">mixed to good</a>. It’s what some reviewers said about the real-life victims, though, that is stunning and sadly predictable.
<a href="http://forbes.com/">Forbes.com</a>’s far-left critic Scott Mendelson starts his negative “Bombshell” review by saying something that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/12/09/review-bombshell-starring-charlize-theron-nicole-kidman-and-margot-robbie-is-a-dud/#24e61da84755">should be as obvious as, “the sky is blue.” </a>
<blockquote>No, working at Fox News, even being instrumental in mainstreaming ideas and behavior that may have led to (or encouraged) sexual harassment, doesn’t make one deserving of such treatment.</blockquote>
Later, Mendelson reverses course on that theme.
<blockquote>…the film never really confronts the conundrum of wanting us to root for outright villains just because their superiors were worse.</blockquote>
“Outright villains?” What crimes did they commit? Robbie’s composite character is a Christian Instagrammer. Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly read headlines at Fox News.
Is that their crime? Are they less worthy of empathy because they lean to the right? The two personalities were a far cry from Laura Ingraham or Sean Hannity.
The critic directly addresses his own ghastly thoughts next.
<blockquote>And there’s something brazenly unpleasant, especially in these dark times, about rooting for the righteous retribution of folks who were instrumental in brainwashing entire generations of Americans in ways that caused untold suffering and long-term damage to the entire planet… But maybe, just maybe, it means they shouldn’t get a glamourous “both sides” movie made about them which attempts to paint as righteous victims sticking it to the man.</blockquote>
NPR’s Linda Holmes <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/12/787112042/bombshell-imitates-but-fails-to-enlighten">doubles down</a> on that sentiment.
<blockquote>…there’s not a lot here that isn’t found in a lot of other stories about sexual harassment, which means a lot of potentially interesting ground is left unexplored. (That’s aside from the fact that there will certainly be people who simply cannot find these particular women to be sympathetic. [emphasis added])</blockquote>
The latter words link to a<a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/12/bombshell-review-fox-news-movie-charlize-theron-megyn-kelly.html"> Slate review of “Bombshell”</a> with this headline: “Bombshell Wants You to Pump Your Fist in Solidarity With the Women of [Checks Teleprompter] Fox News?”
Remember, modern feminism stops cold when it runs head first into women who don’t align with the Left’s worldview.
Slate critic Dana Stevens is just warming up.
<blockquote>I can think of more important whistleblower stories to hear about in detail … than Megyn Kelly’s. A person with a platform that size who uses her on-air time to argue vehemently that Santa Claus is white, as Kelly did with an ex-colleague of mine … just isn’t that exciting to root for. No one deserves to be harassed at work, and the fact these women banded together to bring down an enormously powerful and malignant man is admirable. That doesn’t mean I want to spend two hours gazing at Megyn’s seemingly poreless face as she wrestles with whether and how to tell her truth, while continuing to play a highly public part in a media ecosystem based on lies.</blockquote>
She revisits that theme while recounting a troubling sequence in the film.
<blockquote>Bombshell is mainly concerned with what happened in Kelly’s and Carlson’s lives during those two weeks—the nice vacations ruined by paparazzi (again … trying to care?).</blockquote>
The scene in question finds Kelly’s young daughter gasping as photographers swarm their hotel room, attempting to take pictures of their family. Who doesn’t see that as a gross invasion of privacy? Still, Stevens’ Empathy Meter barely moves.
One final blow against the victims?
<blockquote>…but when you remember that Kelly herself was fired from NBC last year for defending blackface on air, it gets a bit harder to pump your fist in solidarity. Whatever beliefs they may hold about other people’s humanity, I’m glad these women finally received justice from the network that wronged them. I’m just not sure that translates into wanting to spend two hours in their company.</blockquote>
Vanity Fair’s critic<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/bombshell-fox-news-megyn-kelly-review"> clutched some pearls</a> over the film showcasing two of the three female leads with their, gasp, children.
<blockquote>But Bombshell doesn’t really try to explore the moral complexity it sets up: that Kelly and her cohort can be objectionable people propping up an even worse institution while still doing something courageous and good. Instead the movie softens them to make them more palatable to perhaps its imagined liberal viewer, even going so far as to repeatedly (and, it feels, pointedly) show Carlson and Kelly with their children, as if motherhood is an indisputable talisman against criticism.</blockquote>
That’s frustrating, especially when the actors involved seem so willing to bore deeper into these characters and their milieu.
It’s akin to Jimmy Fallon tousling then-candidate Donald Trump’s hair. Humanizing conservatives, to some critics, is beyond the pale.
A version of this article was also published on <a dir="ltr" href="http://hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

“Bombshell”

TOTO: ‘Bombshell’ Critics Dehumanize Female Fox News Victims

Bombshell

Gretchen Carlson

Hollywood

On Friday afternoon, journalist Megyn Kelly interviewed a recently-fired CBS employee named Ashley Bianco, who was allegedly canned for leaking a video clip of ABC News anchor Amy Robach complaining that the network killed her story on registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein three years ago. 
But according to Bianco, CBS fired an innocent woman.
Working as a producer and video editor, Bianco told Kelly that she did indeed clip the video of Robach, but denied leaking it to James O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s Project Veritas, the group that dropped the story this week. Bianco said she had never heard of O&#8217;Keefe before the story broke, and O&#8217;Keefe has denied that Bianco was his source.
&#8220;Did you leak the tape?&#8221; Kelly started the interview.
&#8220;I did not,&#8221; answered Bianco, who recently left ABC and started working for CBS this week.
She cut the clip and saved it in the internal system, she explained, because that was part of her job.
After Robach made the remarks, Bianco said she went to her manager and asked if Robach knew she was &#8220;on a hot mic.” &#8220;She knew she was being broadcasted to all the affiliates,&#8221; Bianco was told.
&#8220;I just clipped it off; I essentially marked it in the system and it never left the system. We do it all the time,” she emphasized. 
&#8220;I did it just for office gossip you know,&#8221; the producer added.
&#8220;So this week you&#8217;re sitting at CBS doing your job, and what happens with Project Veritas?&#8221; Kelly asked.
&#8220;They released the video, you know, and I was shocked but I didn&#8217;t think anything of it,” answered Bianco. 
She was promptly fired and never given a chance to defend herself, she said.
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know what I had done wrong and I just, you know, I wasn&#8217;t even given the professional courtesy to defend myself,&#8221; Bianco claimed. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t know what I had been accused of. It was, you know, humiliating. I was devastated.&#8221;
&#8220;Do you regret clipping that moment now?&#8221; questioned Kelly.
&#8220;I do. Had I known, I would have never clipped it. I didn&#8217;t do anything wrong. I didn&#8217;t do anything. I didn&#8217;t leak it. Anyone else could have clipped it off.&#8221;
Kelly noted, &#8220;Even James O&#8217;Keefe has come out now saying you are not the leaker, that you were not the insider who gave this to him.&#8221;
&#8220;I just want my career back,&#8221; Bianco told Kelly.
During the hot mic clip, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-megyn-kelly-announces-bombshell-first-interview-since-nbc-exit">Robach</a> claims ABC News killed the story for a multitude of reasons, including threats from Prince Andrew.
&#8220;I’ve had the story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air,&#8221; the ABC anchor says.  &#8220;&#8230; The Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will, that also quashed the story. And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated in it because of the planes. She told me everything. She had pictures, she had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years. We convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe title="The MK Interview: Megyn sits down with Ashley Bianco who was fired by CBS" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/87PVEXMN5qE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

CBS Reportedly Fired Innocent Woman For ‘Leaking’ Video On ABC Killing Epstein Story: I Am Not The Leaker

Jeffrey Epstein

UPDATE: After this piece was published, Kelly posted a tease of the interview via Twitter:
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The former ABC staffer who allegedly leaked the hot mic Amy Robach tape sits down with me in an exclusive — here’s a preview — we’ll be posting the full exchange shortly at <a href="https://t.co/A53IqETTDd">https://t.co/A53IqETTDd</a>. Stay tuned! <a href="https://t.co/WgvUFgCnBX">pic.twitter.com/WgvUFgCnBX</a>
&mdash; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1192885402396512257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Original post:
On Friday morning, journalist Megyn Kelly announced that she conducted an interview with the CBS employee who was recently fired for exposing that ABC <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-abc-news-killed-epstein-clinton-story-says-anchor-in-hot-mic-video">killed a bombshell story</a> three years ago on registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This will be the first time Kelly has conducted an interview since exiting NBC News last year.
&#8220;Have you been following this story about the Amy Robach hot-mic moment at ABC?&#8221; the former &#8220;Megyn Kelly Today&#8221; host started. &#8220;She was caught talking about how she said she had the Epstein story three years ago and ABC wouldn’t air it. And then she amended to say, &#8216;Well, I didn’t have the corroboration,&#8217; after ABC had publicly had to deal w this hot-mic moment.&#8221;
&#8220;The employee who sort of marked that clip in the system and then moved on to CBS got fired this week because they suspected she leaked this thing to Project Veritas — which is the one that put it out there,&#8221; Kelly continued.
&#8220;Well, we just sat down with her in an exclusive interview,&#8221; she teased. &#8220;We got the full story and I think you’re gonna be fascinated by it.&#8221;
&#8220;Launching my Instagram with an exclusive interview of the woman just fired after the leak of a hot mic moment by ABC’s [Amy Robach],&#8221; Kelly caption the Instagram post, ominously adding, &#8220;But did ABC News target the right person?&#8221;
James O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s Project Veritas dropped the bombshell clip of Robach on Tuesday. Here&#8217;s the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-abc-news-killed-epstein-clinton-story-says-anchor-in-hot-mic-video">partial transcript</a> of the ABC anchor discussing how her network killed the story:
<blockquote>I’ve had the story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air. First of all, I was told who’s Jeffrey Epstein, no one knows who that is, this is a stupid story. Then the Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will, that also quashed the story. And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated in it because of the planes. She told me everything. She had pictures, she had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years. We convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything. [emphasis added]
I tried for three years to get it on to no avail and now it&#8217;s all coming out and it’s like these new relevant revelations and I freaking had all of it. I’m so pissed right now, like every day I get more and more pissed because I’m just like, oh my god, what we had was unreal. Other women backing it up. Brad Edwards the attorney three years ago saying like, &#8216;there will come a day for we will realize Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known.&#8217; I had it all three years ago.</blockquote>
Kelly was canned at NBC last year for allegedly discussing people dressing up as famous black and brown people for Halloween and darkening their faces. But last month, Fox News host Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">suggested</a> she was actually fired because she called for an outside investigation into the network over internal claims of sexual misconduct and the suspect handling of allegations into Democratic mega-donor Harvey Weinstein.
WATCH:
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</a> 
 <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4m0pYGHQAU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Launching my Instagram with an exclusive interview of the woman just fired after the leak of a hot mic moment by ABC’s @ajrobach. But did ABC News target the right person? ⠀ ⠀ Follow along with me here @MegynKelly, for current stories and my insight in real time.</a>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/megynkelly/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Megyn Kelly</a> (@megynkelly) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-11-08T13:45:49+00:00">Nov 8, 2019 at 5:45am PST</time>
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WATCH: Megyn Kelly Announces Bombshell First Interview Since NBC Exit

NBC News

Though she has defended him in the past, former Fox and NBC News host Megyn Kelly says she cannot ignore the Ukraine whistleblower&#8217;s attorney&#8217;s &#8220;clearly partisan, harshly anti-Trump&#8221; past statements that &#8220;reveal an unambiguous desire to oust&#8221; the President of the United States.
Kelly made the statement online in response to a post by attorney Victoria Toensing. &#8220;Attorney for so-called whistleblower, [Mark Zaid], tweeted in January 2017 that &#8216;#coup has started.&#8217; And, &#8216;Impeachment will follow &#8230; &#8216;&#8221; Toensing tweeted Thursday. &#8220;[Zaid has] been planning to take down [President Trump] for over two years. Will MSM publish the story?&#8221;
Toensing is referencing multiple <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/whistleblower-lawyer-in-january-2017-coup-has-started-impeachment-will-follow">tweets by Zaid</a> from 2017 celebrating that a &#8220;coup&#8221; by federal officials had begun and &#8220;impeachment&#8221; of Trump &#8220;will follow.&#8221; Zaid made the comments in response to the announcement that Trump had fired Attorney General Sally Yates &#8220;for refusing to enforce a legal order to protect the citizens&#8221; of the United States.
&#8220;#coup has started,&#8221; Zaid tweeted. &#8220;First of many steps. #rebellion. #impeachment will follow ultimately. #lawyers.&#8221;
In another tweet, Zaid again declared the beginning of the &#8220;coup.&#8221; In response to Trump announcing the appointment of Dana Boente as Acting Attorney General, Zaid wrote: &#8220;#coup has started. As one falls, two more will take their place. #rebellion #impeachment.&#8221;
Responding to Toensing&#8217;s post, Kelly wrote: &#8220;I earlier said I’ve always known [Mark Zaid] to be a straight shooter (he’s helped clients in situations I’ve covered, no matter whether it would hurt a [Democratic] or [Republican] admin). But these tweets are clearly partisan, harshly anti-Trump &amp; reveal an unambiguous desire to oust the [president].&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I earlier said I’ve always known <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkSZaidEsq</a> to be a straight shooter (he’s helped clients in situations I’ve covered, no matter whether it would hurt a D or R admin). But these tweets are clearly partisan, harshly anti-Trump &amp; reveal an unambiguous desire to oust the prez. <a href="https://t.co/uOGo6bLYnD">https://t.co/uOGo6bLYnD</a>
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1192454798597079040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
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As reported by <a href="https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2019/11/08/he-doth-protest-too-much-megyn-kelly-calls-whistleblower-attorney-mark-zaid-out-for-his-anti-trump-tweets-and-he-just-cant-deal/">Twitchy</a>, Zaid has since responded with another loaded statement citing &#8220;dictatorships.&#8221;
&#8220;Amazing how many [people] completely misunderstand def of &#8216;partisan&#8217;. I have zero affiliation [with] politics other than holding all public officials accountable,&#8221; Zaid wrote. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t aware in America citizens had to like their president. Those are dictatorships.&#8221; Zaid also linked to Merriem&#8217;s definition of dictatorship.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Amazing how many ppl completely misunderstand def of &#8220;partisan&#8221;. I have zero affiliation w/politics other than holding all public officials accountable.
I wasn&#8217;t aware in America citizens had to like their president. Those are dictatorships.<a href="https://t.co/jpPigHhncY">https://t.co/jpPigHhncY</a> <a href="https://t.co/yT6CENpWOA">https://t.co/yT6CENpWOA</a>
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1192525819517779968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2019</a></blockquote>
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After Zaid&#8217;s &#8220;coup&#8221; and &#8220;impeachment&#8221; tweets came to light earlier this week, Trump campaign communication director Tim Murtaugh told Fox News that Zaid has exposed the whistleblower&#8217;s political game.
&#8220;The whistleblower’s lawyer gave away the game,&#8221; Murtaugh said. &#8220;It was always the Democrats’ plan to stage a coup and impeach President Trump and all they ever needed was the right scheme. They whiffed on Mueller so now they’ve settled on the perfectly fine Ukraine phone call. This proves this was orchestrated from the beginning.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-to-argue-whistleblowers-protections-voided-by-consulting-with-schiff-prior-to-filing-complaint-report-says">GOP To Argue Whistleblower’s Protections Voided By Consulting With Schiff Prior To Filing Complaint, Report Says</a>

Megyn Kelly Calls Out Whistleblower Lawyer’s ‘Partisan, Harshly Anti-Trump’ Comments; He Responds With ‘Dictatorship’ Tweet

Donald Trump

Mark Zaid

Ukraine

When approaching her role in Lionsgate’s “Bombshell,” actress Charlize Theron was apprehensive, reports <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/02/entertainment/charlize-theron-megyn-kelly-bombshell/index.html">CNN</a>.
“This was not a person who was easy for me to wrap my arms around,” Theron said at a recent panel in L.A.
<blockquote>From afar it looks like we have nothing in common – obviously, I&#8217;m a liberal and a lot of these women have said things that have been deeply upsetting to me. But at the same time, as a woman, understanding what each of them went through and understanding what Megyn was facing, especially in those two weeks where she didn&#8217;t step forward and she didn&#8217;t support Gretchen [Carlson], that&#8217;s when I emotionally tapped into her because I started to see similarities between us, dare I say that.</blockquote>
“Bombshell,” a film that chronicles the downfall of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes after allegations of sexual misconduct, stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie. It was written by Charles Randolph, who co-wrote 2015’s “The Big Short,” and directed by Jay Roach, who directed political dramas “All The Way” and “Game Change.”
“I saw a woman with ambition, with drive, and all of a sudden I realized, ‘S***, this is the kind of stuff that&#8217;s been weaponized against me. I relate to that.’ That&#8217;s when it became clear to me just how important this story was,” Theron stated. “Because if we can see the power of the message through someone who we may not agree with or somebody who might even anger us, that tells you there&#8217;s something real there.”
Theron added that it was difficult to analyze Megyn Kelly as a person because so much of the available footage of the former Fox News anchor is from her doing her job as a journalist.
Theron had previously <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/charlize-theron-megyn-kelly-bombshell-monster.html">discussed</a> the role, and the way in which actors are supposed to engage with character research, with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, saying:
<blockquote>You forget sometimes – all of us do this – we think we know people, we have our preconceived ideas of them. As an actor, you have to have that ability to put all of that aside and do research, and to actually find out about somebody.</blockquote>
Theron added that there were certain aspects of the part that “bothered” her. It wasn’t until she came to the understanding that the movie was a portrait of the women who took on an alleged abuser at Fox News, rather than a Megyn Kelly biopic, that it “felt &#8230; like a story worth telling.”
In her 2016 memoir “<a href="https://people.com/books/megyn-kelly-memoir-9-things-we-learned-about-roger-ailes-alleged-sexual-harassment/">Settle for More</a>,” Kelly describes an incident that allegedly took place in January 2006: “Roger called me up to New York and we had a shocking exchange. I was nervous about going into his office, concerned he might start in again. Sure enough he did. And then he crossed a new line – trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips.”
Kelly also claims that Ailes had made sexually charged comments toward her. The Fox News anchor left the network in January 2017.
In July 2016, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who is played by Nicole Kidman in “Bombshell,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/06/fox-settles-with-gretchen-carlson-for-20m-and-is-expected-to-offer-apology-report.html">sued</a> Ailes for sexual harassment. Two months later, the suit was settled, and Carlson was paid $20 million.
Announcing the settlement of the suit, 21st Century Fox issued a statement that read in part: “We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.”

Charlize Theron.

Charlize Theron Says Playing Megyn Kelly Was Difficult, But Ultimately ‘A Story Worth Telling’

Charlize Theron

On Monday, author Sil Lai Abrams explained how her rape accusation against music mogul Russell Simmons and sexual assault charge against then &#8211; “Extra” host A.J. Calloway were allegedly killed off by NBC in 2018.
Abrams says Simmons, who has since moved to Bali, raped her in 1994. Mr. Calloway, who no longer works at &#8220;Extra&#8221; — which &#8220;airs in major markets on NBC owned-and-operated stations,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/russell-simmons-an-extra-host-nbc-news-a-sexual-assault-accusers-story-1123824">The Hollywood Reporter</a> — allegedly sexually assaulted the author in 2006. Both Simmons and Calloway have denied the allegations.
According to Abrams, her #MeToo claims were set to be covered by MSNBC host Joy Reid before the interview was killed off by NBC higher-ups in the same fashion journalist Ronan Farrow&#8217;s reporting on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was apparently buried.
&#8220;I have been struck by the company’s (NBC) insistence that Ronan didn’t have the Harvey Weinstein story in the bag,&#8221; Abrams writes at <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-not-just-ronan-farrow-nbc-news-killed-my-rape-allegation-story-too?ref=scroll">The Daily Beast</a>. &#8220;I don’t believe a word of what it says because in 2018, the network killed my #MeToo story that was being reported by MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid. Incredibly, a year after NBC botched Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein, they had the audacity to do it again.&#8221;
Abrams says she was put through &#8220;a thorough vetting process” and an on-camera interview with Reid was taped on January 7, 2018, which was scheduled to air six days later. She assumed they would go forward with the taped interview and publish an accompanying #MeToo piece written by Reid for New York magazine. Neither, however, would hit the press. 
The day before the interview was set to air, Abrams was asked to contact Reid. 
&#8220;When we spoke a few hours later, she informed me that Russell Simmons&#8217; attorney had gone ballistic and NBC was not going to air the segment, and the New York magazine story was also on hold since they were paired,&#8221; Abrams said. &#8220;She assured me the story wasn’t dead, but that NBC simply needed more vetting done in order to feel comfortable with moving forward.&#8221;
&#8220;Over the next several months, NBC put me through an elaborate and bizarre vetting process,&#8221; Abrams continues. &#8220;I provided legal documentation, hospital bills, and over a dozen corroborating witnesses. Still, they stonewalled. I asked Joy repeatedly if NBC was going to do to her what it did to Ronan, and she said that she didn’t think so.&#8221;
In mid-February, Reid allegedly emailed Abrams:
<blockquote>“So basically the story got caught up in a couple of vices: the struggle to get comments from the principles (now mostly alleviated), threats from Russell’s lawyer that spooked NBC,” Joy told me via email. “So now NBC… is demanding that I do all of this additional reporting to meet a legal and standards review.”</blockquote>
“Still not clear why NBC is demanding more corroboration regarding A.J. [arrest] &#8230; his lawyer already confirmed the case, but I know this isn’t about you,” Abrams replied to the MSNBC host. 
“My team and I, my PA and senior producer helping me with the story met with the standards department rep today just to figure out what the heck’s going on,” Reid explained to Abrams in a phone call two weeks later. “I just have to get my company to have the guts to do the story. I’ve never done a story that has this much evidence before. I have more evidence than the LA Times and The New York Times stories combined. So the whole thing is, if my company will trust the evidence that I’ve shown them, which is substantial, they will do the story.”
When Abrams asked if the network was going to kill her story due to legal threats from Simmons&#8217; and Calloway’s attorneys, Reid allegedly told her: “We have enough that we have satisfied the standards side, but this is now in the hands of lawyers who have to determine the likelihood of a lawsuit by two people now, and what is the likelihood that we will prevail. … This has now gone up past the attorneys I deal with to the head of NBCUniversal’s lawyers. I’ve never been through anything like this.”
Abrams writes that the last time she spoke with Reid was on April 6, 2018, when Reid told her should take her story elsewhere. Senior management, Reid reportedly told her, had stopped responded to her inquiries about the story.
As reported last week by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">The Daily Wire</a>, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that former NBC host Megyn Kelly was canned from the network because she called for an outside investigation into internal claims of sexual misconduct by former “Today” host Matt Lauer and the handling of Farrow’s reporting on Weinstein. 
“Last September, early September, you (Kelly) on your show, on the air on NBC, called for an independent investigation into these allegations,” Carlson said to Kelly, who appeared alongside the host on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Wednesday night. 
Carlson ran a clip of Kelly from September 2, 2018. “There is a question about whether or not there should be an outside investigator to take a hard look at this,” she said. “To me, as a lawyer, it’s just always better to just send it outside, and then people can have more faith in it and if there’s nothing to hide, you have no worries about it,” Kelly added. 
“People’s jaws hung open when you said that,” Carlson told Kelly. “There have been a couple of published accounts that say you were fired from NBC, a little more than a month later, for saying that.”
Kelly was ostensibly canned from NBC in October for discussing whether it’s “racist” or not for people to darken their faces for Halloween costumes.  
Carlson then pointed out that MSNBC host Chris Hayes similarly questioned NBC’s handling of such allegations and reporting. “He (Hayes) is saying essentially what you said, which is he doesn’t trust the management at NBC News,” he said to Kelly. “Given your experience, do you think he’s in jeopardy of being fired?”
Tellingly, Kelly responded: “No comment to that.” 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">Tucker Carlson Floats Real Reason Megyn Kelly Was Canned From NBC: Called For Independent Investigation</a>

Sil Lai Abrams

Author Says Her Rape Claim Set To Air With Joy Reid Was Killed By NBC

Matt Lauer

Sexual Assault

Tucker Carlson

On Wednesday, NBCUniversal announced that there will not be any additional investigations into sexual misconduct allegations surrounding former “Today” host Matt Lauer. 
&#8220;There is no additional investigation being launched,” NBCUniversal spokesperson Hilary Smith said, according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nbcuniversal-wont-conduct-new-matt-lauer-investigation-1248592">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. &#8220;We are very confident in the report that was conducted.”
&#8220;We fired Matt Lauer within 24 hours of learning what he did, and promptly launched a corporate investigation,” Smith contended. “Based on our investigative findings, we have swiftly taken appropriate actions to address the situation and improve workplace culture. It is also worth noting that this was a corporate investigation that was conducted by an almost entirely female team, none of whom are part of the News division.&#8221;
Megyn Kelly, a former NBC employee who’s been vocal in her support for an outside investigation, blasted the network for their lack on transparency. 
“CBS, FOX, NPR, NFL &#8211; all hired outside investigators,” she posted to Twitter. “NBC again refuses to do so &#8230; as it claims it has ‘nothing to hide.’”
“RELEASE ALL LAUER ACCUSERS FROM THEIR NON-DISCLOSURES,” Kelly added, in all upper case letters.
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CBS, FOX, NPR, NFL &#8211; all hired outside investigators. NBC again refuses to do so &#8230; as it claims it has “nothing to hide.” RELEASE ALL LAUER ACCUSERS FROM THEIR NON-DISCLOSURES. <a href="https://t.co/cMoLMYCcE6">https://t.co/cMoLMYCcE6</a>
&mdash; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1184971434856202240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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While working for NBC, Kelly publicly called for an outside investigation into the network over internal claims of sexual misconduct regarding Lauer and the suspect handling of allegations into Democrat megadonor Harvey Weinstein.
“There is a question about whether or not there should be an outside investigator to take a hard look at this,” Kelly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">said</a> on NBC airwaves on September 2, 2018, referring to the Lauer allegations and apparent stonewalling on Weinstein reporting from then-NBC journalist Ronan Farrow. “To me, as a lawyer, it’s just always better to just send it outside, and then people can have more faith in it, and if there’s nothing to hide, you have no worries about it,” she added.
While Kelly was ostensibly fired from NBC a month later for remarks about darkening one&#8217;s face for Halloween costumes, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested Wednesday that Kelly was actually canned for calling for an outside investigation.
Kelly neither confirmed nor denied Carlson&#8217;s theory.
“There needs to be an outside investigation into this company,” she told Carlson. “They investigated themselves, that doesn’t work. Fox News had an outside investigator, CBS News had an outside investigator, NPR, the NFL, this is how it’s done. You get somebody on the outside who can be trusted.” 
As reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/matt-lauer-accused-of-rape-by-former-colleague-lauer-responds">The Daily Wire</a> last week, former NBC news employee Brooke Nevils claims she was raped by Lauer in 2014 while covering the Sochi Olympics, Farrow&#8217;s new book &#8220;Catch and Kill&#8221; reveals.
“Once she was in his hotel room, Nevils alleges, Lauer — who was wearing a T-shirt and boxers — pushed her against the door and kissed her. He then pushed her onto the bed, ‘flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex,’ Farrow writes. ‘She said that she declined several times,’” a report from Variety said.
Nevils claims she “was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he ‘just did it,’” Farrow wrote in the book. “Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. ‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.”
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” the former NBC employee told Farrow. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
Nevils admitted that she had consensual sexual encounters with Lauer following the alleged rape — some of which she initiated.
According to Farrow, Nevils says the alleged incident was an open secret at NBC before a formal complaint was filed and Lauer was canned.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">Tucker Carlson Floats Real Reason Megyn Kelly Was Canned From NBC: Called For Independent Investigation</a>

NBC Won’t Open New Investigation Into Matt Lauer; Megyn Kelly Responds

Rape

Ronan Farrow

On Wednesday night, Fox News&#8217; Tucker Carlson, citing published accounts, suggested the real reason Megyn Kelly was canned from her job at NBC last year was because she called for an outside investigation into the network over internal claims of sexual misconduct and the suspect handling of allegations into Democrat mega-donor Harvey Weinstein. 
&#8220;Last September, early September, you (Kelly) on your show, on the air on NBC, called for an independent investigation into these allegations,&#8221; Carlson said to Kelly, who appeared alongside the host on &#8220;Tucker Carlson Tonight.&#8221;
Carlson ran a clip of Kelly doing just that on September 2, 2018. &#8220;There is a question about whether or not there should be an outside investigator to take a hard look at this,&#8221; Kelly said, referring to allegations of sexual misconduct aimed at former “Today” host Matt Lauer and apparent stonewalling on Weinstein reporting of then-NBC journalist Ronan Farrow. “To me, as a lawyer, it&#8217;s just always better to just send it outside, and then people can have more faith in it and if there&#8217;s nothing to hide, you have no worries about it,” Kelly added. 
&#8220;People&#8217;s jaws hung open when you said that,&#8221; Carlson told Kelly. &#8220;There have been a couple of published accounts that say you were fired from NBC, a little more than a month later, for saying that.&#8221;
Kelly was ostensibly canned from NBC in October for discussing whether it’s “racist” or not for people to darken their faces for Halloween costumes. 
Carlson then pointed out that MSNBC host Chris Hayes similarly questioned NBC&#8217;s handling of such allegations and reporting. 
&#8220;He (Hayes) is saying essentially what you said, which is he doesn&#8217;t trust the management at NBC News,&#8221; Carlson said to Kelly. &#8220;Given your experience, do you think he&#8217;s in jeopardy of being fired?”
&#8220;No comment on that,&#8221; Kelly tellingly responded. “I will say, the question is open as to whether [NBC] put dollars ahead of decency.” 
“There needs to be an outside investigation into this company,” she continued. “They investigated themselves, that doesn&#8217;t work. Fox News had an outside investigator, CBS News had an outside investigator, NPR, the NFL, this is how it’s done. You get somebody on the outside who can be trusted.” 
As outlined by Tiana Lowe earlier this week, it’s become increasingly clear that Kelly was likely fired for questioning NBC management, rather than the “blackface” comments, in light of reporting from Farrow&#8217;s new book &#8220;Catch and Kill.&#8221;
“Ronan Farrow&#8217;s explosive reporting on the lengths NBC went to shut down his investigation into Harvey Weinstein grants further credence to an unpalatable, sexist, and abhorrent rationale for Kelly&#8217;s firing: NBC wanted to silence Kelly&#8217;s coverage of their former anchor, Matt Lauer,” Lowe posted at <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/nbc-probably-fired-megyn-kelly-for-her-matt-lauer-coverage">The Washington Examiner</a>. 
“In the weeks before the blackface nothingburger, Kelly spent ample amounts of time on her talk show reporting on the numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations plaguing Lauer. Unlike many of her fellow daytime hosts, Kelly had covered the #MeToo beat in scrupulous and, at times, necessarily unsavory detail: conducting explosive interviews with multiple Weinstein victims, and when the Lauer story broke and his termination from NBC came shortly thereafter, Kelly covered it with the same righteous indignation,” she continued. “On live television, Kelly called on her own employers to allow an external team to investigate the network&#8217;s handling of the entire Lauer affair, and she went so far as to interview one of Lauer&#8217;s accuser on air.”
“It&#8217;s a massive gamble to criticize the ethics of your own employer on national television, but Kelly rightly made that bet. And NBC fired her for it,&#8221; Lowe claimed. &#8220;We can be more confident thanks to new reporting by Farrow.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Tucker Carlson Floats Real Reason Megyn Kelly Was Canned From NBC: Called For Independent Investigation

Harvey Weinstein

On Wednesday, Lionsgate released the first trailer for &#8220;Bombshell,&#8221; its feature film on the sexual harassment allegations against former Fox News Channel chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who resigned in July 2016 as a result of the scandal and died less than a year later. The film stars Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, Margo Robbie as a fictitious news producer at the network, and John Lithgow as Roger Ailes.
In its report on the film&#8217;s first trailer, <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/08/margot-robbie-charlize-theron-nicole-kidman-roger-ailes-jay-roach-movie-bombshell-trailer-1202700698/">Deadline</a> notes that, for some reason, Lionsgate chose to drop the trailer &#8220;very quietly.&#8221;
The <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6394270/">film</a> is directed by Jay Roach, who also directed the politically charged made-for-TV movie &#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1848902/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_6">Game Change</a>&#8221; (2012) about Sen. John McCain naming former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The screenplay was written by Charles Randolph, who also wrote the script for &#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596363/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_4">The Big Short</a>&#8221; (2015).
The teaser trailer does not feature Lithgow&#8217;s Ailes, but it provides the audience a look at the three female leads heading up to the second floor, where Ailes&#8217; executive suite was located. Deadline points out that the trailer also provides a glimpse of Saturday Night Live comedian Kate McKinnon as a producer with the network, whose name hasn&#8217;t yet been provided on IMDB.
Watch the trailer below via Lionsgate:
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Fox News has long been in the crosshairs of Hollywood, the scandal surrounding Ailes&#8217; departure providing the perfect opportunity to take aim at the network. The allegations against Ailes first began to emerge when Carlson sued him in July 2016 for sexual harassment in what turned out to be a precursor to the #MeToo movement, which erupted in fall 2017 as a result of a flood of accusations against megaproducer and Democrat megadonor Harvey Weinstein.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/7223/breaking-gretchen-carlson-files-sexual-harassment-amanda-prestigiacomo">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time, Carlson filed the lawsuit on July 6, 2016, about two weeks after being fired for what she alleged was her refusal to succomb to his sexual advances. Two months later, 21st Century Fox settled with Carlson for a reported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/8916/fox-news-hands-20-million-settlement-gretchen-amanda-prestigiacomo">$20 million</a>. &#8220;We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she &amp; all our colleagues deserve,&#8221; the company said in a statement announcing the settlement in early September 2016.
About two weeks after Carlson filed her lawsuit, reports revealed that Kelly had made similar accusations against Ailes, allegations she detailed in her book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Settle-More-Megyn-Kelly/dp/0062565311">Settle for More</a>,&#8221; published in November 2016.
Amid mounting pressure and a growing number of accusations, Ailes resigned from Fox News on July 21, 2016. Though Ailes <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/7257/roger-ailes-responds-gretchen-carlsons-sexual-james-barrett">denied</a> the &#8220;false&#8221; allegations and claimed that Carlson&#8217;s lawsuit was &#8220;retaliatory,&#8221; he said in his <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/21/fox-news-confirms-that-roger-ailes-is-leaving-company.html?view=story&amp;%24DEVICE%24=native-android-tablet">resignation letter</a> that he was stepping down because he didn&#8217;t want to be a &#8220;distraction&#8221; for the network.
Ailes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/16597/fox-news-founder-roger-ailes-dead-age-77-james-barrett">died </a>in May 2017 from &#8220;complications of a subdural hematoma after he fell at home injuring his head,&#8221; the medical examiner&#8217;s report states. &#8220;Hemophilia contributed to his death and his manner of death was accidental. There was no evidence of foul play.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/38591/megyn-kelly-nbc-finalizing-exit-deal-and-its-good-james-barrett">Megyn Kelly, NBC Finalizing Exit Deal, And It&#8217;s A Good One For Kelly</a>

WATCH: Charlize Theron As Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman As Gretchen Carlson In ‘Bombshell’

On Monday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show,&#8221; Knowles attacks the Left for applying political correctness selectively. Video and partial transcript below:
It drives me crazy because about once a year there&#8217;s a movie from Hollywood that I actually want to go see. In the last few years, we had &#8220;A Quiet Place,&#8221; we had &#8220;Hail Caesar,&#8221; &#8220;Get Out&#8221; was kind of interesting, but those are the exceptions. Most of the movies were horrendous. So you finally see a movie that looks pretty good, and then it gets canceled.
This is the problem with cancel culture. This is the problem — which is 99.9 percent a Leftist problem, but occasionally conservatives get involved too — which is, we don&#8217;t like you, we&#8217;re going to shut you down, we&#8217;re going to shut you up, or we think we don&#8217;t like you, so we&#8217;re gonna shut you down and shut you out. Bad idea. Just let it out. It&#8217;s ok. They&#8217;ll make a movie. If Hollywood wants to make a bad stupid liberal movie, people aren&#8217;t going to go see it. Hollywood wants to make what seems like a fairly conservative movie. I bet people would have gone to go see it, but you don&#8217;t have to go see it if you don&#8217;t want to.
Now it&#8217;s not just this movie, it&#8217;s not just &#8220;The Hunt.&#8221; Unfortunately, this is a tough day. I&#8217;m having almost as bad a day as Jeffrey Epstein too because not only do I have to defend Hollywood, I have to defend Sarah Silverman, one of my least favorite comedians — if you can even call her a comedian. But she apparently, she was relating this on a podcast — Sarah Silverman apparently just got fired from a movie because, on her own unfunny TV show, she wore blackface one time. I don&#8217;t watch her show. I didn&#8217;t watch the episode. I don&#8217;t know the context of the blackface, but I assume she wasn&#8217;t wearing it to just make fun of black people. I don&#8217;t think she was going out there — I don&#8217;t know that she was singing Al Jolson songs or something. I assume she was doing it for a comedic point, to make some kind of point. And yet she was fired from a movie for it.
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So my question is: Has Jimmy Kimmel been fired yet from his show? Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface on &#8220;The Man Show.&#8221; Has Ted Danson been fired from his incredibly good and successful career in Hollywood yet? Ted Danson wore blackface one time to make a point. How about Robert Downey Jr? He wore blackface in that movie &#8220;Tropic Thunder.&#8221; How about Julianne Hough? I don&#8217;t even know who that is. But she is apparently a Hollywood person; she wore blackface. How about Fred Armisen from &#8220;Portlandia&#8221; and SNL? He wore blackface on &#8220;SNL.&#8221; How about Gigi Hadid? How about the Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam, who either wore blackface or a KKK hood? Probably the latter but he hasn&#8217;t copped to either of them — he was just on his medical school yearbook page.
Why are we firing one person for this when we&#8217;re not firing other people? Doesn&#8217;t make a lot of sense. Also are we really going to take away someone&#8217;s career because they wear blackface? I guess, if you&#8217;re gonna do that though, if that&#8217;s the new rule, then you&#8217;ve got to apply it to everyone. And are we going to take away the Wayans Brothers&#8217; careers because they were white face in that movie &#8220;White Girls&#8221; or &#8220;White Chicks.&#8221; Remember that movie was two black guys who put on white face and blonde wigs and they pretended to be white girls. So you&#8217;re allowed to do that but you&#8217;re not allowed to wear blackface? Or I guess you&#8217;re allowed to wear blackface — for virtually every liberal elite in Hollywood — except for Sarah Silverman. I hate defending Sarah Silverman, but I have to do it because it&#8217;s just not applied fairly. There&#8217;s no logic to this cancel culture. There&#8217;s no logic to these new speech codes. There&#8217;s no logic to political correctness. It isn&#8217;t a logical ideology. Political correctness is a cudgel — that&#8217;s all it is. It&#8217;s just a tool. It&#8217;s just a hammer used to smack down your opponents. Which is why it only happens to some people and not others.
You know Meghan Kelly, for goodness sakes, she was on that show and on NBC, and she suggested that wearing blackface isn&#8217;t the worst possible crime, especially let&#8217;s say if you go out and go as Diana Ross — let&#8217;s say for Halloween you darken your skin a little bit to look more like Diana Ross. Maybe that&#8217;s not the end of the world. Maybe you shouldn&#8217;t get fired for that. And she lost her show for that, even though other people on the same network have worn blackface multiple times but nothing happens to them. Now, why did they go after Meghan? Did they go after Meghan because of her comments about blackface? Absolutely not. They went after Meghan because they don&#8217;t like her politics — because they&#8217;re not exceedingly left-wing — and they went after her because they didn&#8217;t like her show. So they were looking for an excuse to get rid of her show, and they used that politically correct excuse as a way to do it. But it wasn&#8217;t about principles, it wasn&#8217;t about values, it wasn&#8217;t about logic. Nothing. And that is always the way political correctness is applied.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-knowles-show/id1266577963?mt=2">Download full episode of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on iTunes.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/michael-knowles-show">Watch &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on-demand!</a>

Sarah Silverman

KNOWLES: Cancel Culture Comes For Sarah Silverman

Jimmy Kimmel

Michael Knowles

Political Correctness

Ralph Northam

Video from a 2016 taping of &#8220;The View&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/photo-of-joy-behar-dressed-as-beautiful-african-woman">reveals</a> co-host Joy Behar darkened her skin to dress like an &#8220;African woman&#8221; for Halloween when she was 29.
The segment was focused on the &#8220;feminist statement&#8221; of embracing naturally curly hair. This triggered Behar to show off a photo of her 29-year-old self in the controversial costume, proudly boasting about her natural curls and how &#8220;cute&#8221; she was.
Former co-host Raven-Symoné was shocked when the photo first appeared on screen. &#8220;Joy, is that you, Joy?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;Joy, is that you? Joy, are you black?&#8221;
&#8220;I was so cute,&#8221; Behar said.
&#8220;Are you my auntie, Joy?&#8221; Raven-Symoné joked.
&#8220;I was 29,&#8221; explained Behar. &#8220;I went as a beautiful African woman.&#8221;
&#8220;Oh, you ain&#8217;t black,&#8221; Raven-Symoné muttered in response.
Reacting to Raven-Symoné&#8217;s clear change of tone, Behar asked, &#8220;Why are you upset with me now?&#8221;
&#8220;Did you have tanning lotion on, Joy?&#8221; Raven-Symoné asked.
&#8220;I had makeup that was a little bit darker than my skin,&#8221; Behar explained.
A firestorm of political controversy hit Virginia recently after an alleged yearbook <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42962/breaking-kkk-blackface-photo-emerges-virginia-ryan-saavedra">photo</a> of Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, dressed in either blackface or a KKK robe, resurfaced online. Northam, who advocated for infanticide earlier this month, initially copped to the photo, but now is claiming it is not him in the photo. In another twist, though, Northam did say he once darkened his face to look like pop icon Michael Jackson in a talent show. The Democrat has told reporters that he can still moonwalk, and seemingly almost demonstrated this before his wife told him it was inappropriate.
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I&#8217;m at &#8294;EVMS&#8297; in Norfolk, Virginia (Gov. Ralph Northam graduated here). These are photos from the 1984 yearbook, including &#8294;<a href="https://twitter.com/GovernorVA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovernorVA</a> Ralph Northam&#8217;s page, in a yearbook provided by the library. I&#8217;ve asked the governor&#8217;s office for comment.
Sent from my iPhone <a href="https://t.co/1u3mYKJWnY">pic.twitter.com/1u3mYKJWnY</a>
&#8212; Sarah McCammon (@sarahmccammon) <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahmccammon/status/1091460734918238209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who&#8217;s next in line to take Northam&#8217;s position if the governor were to resign, is now facing an accusation of sexual assault which Fairfax has suggested was leaked by Northam&#8217;s team.
And to compound the political insanity, &#8220;the third-ranking elected official in Virginia, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, acknowledged Wednesday that he had worn blackface at a party as an undergraduate student, deepening a crisis that has engulfed the state&#8217;s Democratic leadership,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/us/politics/virginia-blackface-mark-herring.html">reported</a> The New York Times on Wednesday.
In October, NBC host Megyn Kelly was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37506/megyn-kelly-issues-apology-so-called-blackface-amanda-prestigiacomo">canned</a> from the network after comments concerning people dressing up as characters and celebrities of differing races on Halloween that critics decried as &#8220;racist.&#8221;
Ironically, Kelly&#8217;s comments merely discuss the type of costume Behar actually wore and proudly showed off to a live audience.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how that is racist on Halloween,&#8221; said Kelly, remarking on a cast member from Bravo&#8217;s Real Housewives of New York getting into trouble for dressing up as legendary singer Diana Ross. &#8220;Who doesn&#8217;t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don&#8217;t know how that got racist on Halloween,&#8221; the former Fox host continued, noting that the costume was done in homage, not mockery.
&#8220;What is racist?&#8221; she asked &#8220;Because truly you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Joy Behar admitted during a taping of The View in 2016 to dressing as a &#8220;beautiful African women&#8221; at a Halloween party when she was 29 which involved makeup &#8220;that was a little bit darker than my skin&#8221;
The show even ran an image of the old photo <a href="https://t.co/qKQqzDPxyn">pic.twitter.com/qKQqzDPxyn</a>
&#8212; Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) <a href="https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1093272835076837377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Joy Behar Darkened Skin To Dress As ‘African Woman’ For Halloween

Joy Behar

Race

The View

Virginia

The negotiations between Megyn Kelly and NBC News are all but in the books, according to multiple reports, and it&#8217;s working out quite nicely for the soon-to-be-former NBC host. Inside sources say that Kelly will be walking away with the full value of her original $69 million contract, which means she will receive the full $30 million left on her three-year deal.
Citing sources &#8220;familiar with the matter,&#8221; <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/megyn-kelly-nears-deal-to-leave-nbc-news-with-entirety-of-69-million-contract-1542751002">The Wall Street Journal</a> reports that Kelly, a little less than halfway through her deal, is expected to part ways with Comcast Corp.&#8217;s NBC News &#8220;with more than $30 million &#8212; the full value left on the three-year, $69 million contract with the network.&#8221;
One of the Journal&#8217;s sources says her official exit may come as early as next week. The two sides have been reportedly haggling over largely &#8220;nonfinancial&#8221; issues, the source says, including her deal&#8217;s noncompete and nondisclosure clauses.
<a href="http://pagesix.com/2018/11/20/megyn-kelly-finalizing-30m-exit-from-nbc/">Page Six</a>&#8216;s sources have confirmed that Kelly will be receiving the full $30 million payout, one source stressing that it won&#8217;t be official until next week, at the earliest. &#8220;It&#8217;s taking slightly longer than expected, the paperwork is going back and forth,&#8221; the source told Page Six.
Another source told the outlet that both sides want the whole ordeal behind them. &#8220;Everyone wants this to be over &#8212; both Megyn and NBC &#8212; and Comcast has the money to pay off Megyn,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;We thought this would be a done deal a few weeks ago.&#8221;
A &#8220;senior TV source&#8221; told Page Six that NBC simply did not want to prolong the process by haggling, so has agreed to pay her the full amount of her contract.
&#8220;NBC decided rather than fight and face a lawsuit from her, they &#8212; and more importantly, Comcast with all its money &#8212; decided to draw a line under the entire debacle and pay Megyn the full amount owed in her contract to go away,&#8221; said the source.
The source went on to predict that this won&#8217;t be the end of Kelly&#8217;s career, saying, &#8220;in the Trump era, there are few broadcasters like her,&#8221; and suggesting she&#8217;ll likely take a break then make a comeback ahead of the next election.
The abrupt breakup between Kelly and NBC was spurred by her comments about what is or isn&#8217;t appropriate to wear for Halloween ahead of the holiday. Kelly pushed back on the idea that changing one&#8217;s skin tone to portray a famous figure of a different race was necessarily racist, comments made in the context of paying tribute to the figure. Citing criticism of &#8220;Real Housewives of New York&#8221; star Luann de Lesseps for darkening her skin to dress as Diana Ross, Kelly said, &#8220;And people said that that was racist. And I don&#8217;t know! I thought like, who doesn&#8217;t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don&#8217;t know how that got racist on Halloween.&#8221;
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Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface <a href="https://t.co/07yvYDuAYe">pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe</a>
&#8212; Tommy Xtophurkey (@tommyxtopher) <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1054725740476973057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Critics, including several media outlets, characterized the comments as a &#8220;defense&#8221; of the racist practice of &#8220;blackface,&#8221; which Kelly stressed was not her intention in an emotional apology the next day.
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&#8220;I want to begin with two words, I&#8217;m sorry..The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor..Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.&#8221; Megyn Kelly <a href="https://t.co/6hHrvZLNvK">pic.twitter.com/6hHrvZLNvK</a>
&#8212; Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/1055084273420722176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Kelly&#8217;s apology was not enough for network executive Andy Lack, whose relationship with Kelly had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37635/nbc-sources-suggest-real-reasons-network-wants-james-barrett">already reportedly soured</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37859/megyn-kelly-breaks-silence-slams-out-control-media-james-barrett">Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence, Slams Out Of Control Media: &#8216;Videotaped My 7-Yr-Old Child&#8217;</a>

Megyn Kelly, NBC Finalizing Exit Deal, And It’s A Good One For Kelly

Members of the media have taken their coverage of her breakup with NBC too far, Megyn Kelly said in a series of tweets Wednesday.
&#8220;For a week paparazzi has been lurking outside my home day &amp; nite. Finally today I took my kids to school. I went out alone 1st, offered them donuts &amp;begged them to just take their pic of me &amp; to leave my kids alone when they emerged. All were nice. Except the Dailymail,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;The DailyMail 1st published photos of my husb IN OUR HOME &amp; then *did* photog my kids, trailed us to my daughter&#8217;s school, &amp; secretly videotaped my 7-yr-old child (her classmates too) &amp; posted it. THIS IS NOT RIGHT.&#8221;
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1 of 2: For a week paparazzi has been lurking outside my home day &amp; nite. Finally today I took my kids to school. I went out alone 1st, offered them donuts &amp;begged them to just take their pic of me &amp; to leave my kids alone when they emerged. All were nice. Except the Dailymail&#8230;
&#8212; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1057665039082110976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
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2 of 2: The DailyMail 1st published photos of my husb IN OUR HOME &amp; then *did* photog my kids, trailed us to my daughter&#8217;s school, &amp; secretly videotaped my 7-yr-old child (her classmates too) &amp; posted it. THIS IS NOT RIGHT.
&#8212; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1057665322608664576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Kelly&#8217;s tweets come amid a public feud between her lawyer Bryan Freedman and NBC executives. In response to reports by the Daily Mail and others that his client was allegedly asking for more money, Freedman called on NBC to refute such false and disparaging allegations.
&#8220;Despite my efforts to handle this process confidentially, NBC News is allowing the media to run with completely false and irresponsible reports that disparage Megyn by erroneously claiming she has ever asked for more money than her contract requires,&#8221; said Freedman Wednesday, <a href="https://deadline.com/2018/10/megyn-kelly-exit-negotiations-lawyer-criticism-andy-lack-steve-burke-1202493047/">Deadline</a> reports.
&#8220;If NBC News is not the source then they have a responsibility as a news division to correct these false claims,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Or are they somehow attempting to use these fabrications for some fictitious advantage in the discussions we&#8217;re having? If Andy Lack has lost control, my hope would be that Steve Burke can step in and not permit blatant lies about our discussions to remain uncorrected.&#8221;
A spokesperson for NBC dismissed Freedman&#8217;s suggestions about any wrongdoing. &#8220;Unlike Mr. Freedman, who has repeatedly commented to the media throughout the negotiations, we respect the confidentiality of the process, and will have no comment until it reaches its conclusion,&#8221; the spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.
NBC has moved to fire Kelly after she pushed back on the notion that changing one&#8217;s skin tone to portray a famous figure of a different race for Halloween was necessarily racist. Critics portrayed the comments as a defense of the racist practice of &#8220;blackface.&#8221; Kelly offered an emotional apology the next day, but Lack publicly rebuked her and reports quickly began to circulate that she was out.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37635/nbc-sources-suggest-real-reasons-network-wants-james-barrett">NBC Sources Suggest Real Reasons Network Wants Megyn Kelly Fired</a>

Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence, Slams Out Of Control Media: ‘Videotaped My 7-Yr-Old Child’

NBC was aghast that Megyn Kelly said it was once OK to color your skin during Halloween when she was a kid.
&#8221;But what is racist?&#8221; she said on her NBC morning show last week. &#8220;Because 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. Back when I was a kid that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.&#8221;
Kelly was quickly drummed out of NBC and accused of being a racist.
Now, before we go on, we want to point out that Kelly didn&#8217;t actually appear in blackface, dressed up like, say, Aunt Jemima. She just said those words.
But now it turns out several NBC stars have dressed up in blackface, and in whiteface &#8212; including one who fiercely criticized Kelly.
NBC News anchor Lester Holt once dressed as British pop singer and YouTube sensation Susan Boyle for Halloween, complete with wig and a dress, but also wearing whiteface, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/online/lester-holt-dressed-up-as-a-woman-in-whiteface-fallon-in-blackface-what-exactly-is-nbcs-policy/">Mediaite reported</a>. Ironically, Holt did so for an appearance on the Today Show &#8212; the very same show from which Kelly was fired.
See a <a href="https://pagesix.com/2017/10/03/the-today-shows-most-unsettling-halloween-costumes/slide-6/">picture here</a>, posted on Page Six of the New York Post.
Fox News&#8217; Tucker Carlson discussed Holt on his show Tuesday.
&#8220;He has changed his appearance in a way that is now very controversial. He wore that costume for a Halloween episode of the &#8216;Today&#8217; show, Megyn Kelly of course was just fired for suggesting that it wasn&#8217;t always bad to dress up as a member of an opposite race,&#8221; Carlson said.
At the 2016 Golden Globes, Jimmy Fallon, another NBC star, wore blackface during an impersonation of comedian Chris Rock. He also did the same during a &#8220;Saturday Night Live&#8221; sketch in 2000.
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E37BSMRA7-o" width="1280"></iframe></div>
And ABC late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel also donned blackface for a skit back in 2000, when he appeared in blackface to pretend he was NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone on Comedy Central&#8217;s &#8220;The Man Show.&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="722" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-wse5lgIDxM" width="963"></iframe></div>
And who can forget the time &#8220;30 Rock,&#8221; another NBC show, featured Tracy Morgan as a white woman and Jane Krakowski in blackface.
But &#8203;Carlson rightly said the whole thing is silly, and noted that whiteface is not exactly blackface, which has a long history.
&#8220;Look, I just want to be clear, I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s an equivalence between the two. There is a long history of one and not of the other. But I also wonder, I don&#8217;t think, there are like five people in America who would be deeply offended by what Lester Holt did. I&#8217;m not offended by it. Maybe though if you dress like that you should be slightly less self-righteous in the face of other people&#8217;s transgressions.&#8221;

Lester Holt Once Dressed As Woman In ‘Whiteface,’ Jimmy Fallon In Blackface

Jimmy Fallon

Lester Holt

Racism

It&#8217;s Halloween and time for another round of outrage over inappropriate costumes.
Once upon a time, parents &#8212; most of them, anyway &#8212; were concerned with oversexualized costumes for little children, but how unenlightened was that ? Today we&#8217;re focusing our energy on what&#8217;s really important. Now it&#8217;s all about &#8220;cultural appropriation.&#8221; White children need to &#8220;own their privilege&#8221; and not dress up and pretend to belong to a non-oppressive race.
Megyn Kelly ran afoul of NBC&#8217;s &#8220;diversity/inclusion&#8221; police, and as we write this, it looks like she&#8217;ll be canned for saying: &#8220;But what is racist? Because truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween.&#8221; Oops. The word &#8220;blackface&#8221; is loaded and should be avoided, since people immediately think of minstrel shows, and kids shouldn&#8217;t dress up as Al Jolson crooning &#8220;Mammy&#8221; in &#8220;The Jazz Singer.&#8221;
Kelly continued: &#8220;Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.&#8221; Not only was she tongue-lashed on air by NBC&#8217;s black news stars; it seems like this gave NBC a reason to end her morning show, a cover story to nix the (cringe) Fox News woman.
It might have been a better starting point to ask if it&#8217;s offensive for a white boy to want to be Black Panther for a few hours. And if that&#8217;s wrong, can a Person of Color be Superman?
Can a white comedian impersonate a black man? If not, then can a black man not poke fun at white people either? And what does it say about white people that when that happens, we &#8230; laugh?
Oh, the intolerant preachings of the tolerant left.
CNN analyst Kirsten Powers is one of these obnoxious people. The other day, she tweeted: &#8220;Dear white people who are upset that you can&#8217;t dress up as another race or culture for Halloween: your feelings don&#8217;t matter. The only feelings that matter are of those who feel disrespected/mocked by you appropriating their culture for entertainment. Show some common decency.&#8221;
This is the same Kirsten Powers who wrote a book in 2015 titled &#8220;The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing Free Speech.&#8221; Back then, she worked for Fox.
Back in 2015, after Powers&#8217; book came out, then-Yale lecturer Erika Christakis sent an email around campus suggesting Halloween used to be a time for children to be a little naughty or subversive. She wrote about Disney princess costumes, saying: &#8220;it is hard for me to give credence to a claim that there is something objectionably &#8216;appropriative&#8217; about a blonde-haired child&#8217;s wanting to be Mulan for a day. &#8230; I wonder what is the statute of limitations on dreaming of dressing as Tiana the Frog Princess if you aren&#8217;t a black girl from New Orleans? Is it okay if you are eight, but not 18?&#8221;
She even concluded, &#8220;Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people? It&#8217;s not mine, I know that.&#8221;
Nearly a thousand students, faculty members and deans called for both Christakis and her husband, Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a Yale professor, to be fired immediately for this alleged offense. She stopped lecturing, and her husband resigned some duties at the end of the school year in 2016.
Powers actually spoke to the Christakis incident (and others) when she was a Fox News analyst in November 2015. She said, &#8220;It is not actually that anybody is in any danger.&#8221; Bill O&#8217;Reilly added, &#8220;It is oppressive to hear somebody with an opposing point of view.&#8221; Powers replied, &#8220;Exactly. &#8230; They talk about it as if they&#8217;ve been actually physically attacked, because somebody has expressed an opinion different than theirs.&#8221;
Now re-read that tweet of hers. You have our permission to laugh &#8212; quietly.
There&#8217;s nothing wrong with Halloween spurring a &#8220;teaching moment&#8221; for children, but what is being taught? Leftists want to use these costume controversies as just another grenade to destroy the careers of anyone asking them a single challenging question about how to negotiate their minefield.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

BOZELL & GRAHAM: What’s Halloween Without Racism Charges?

Cultural Appropriation

Halloween

With NBC News in negotiations with host Megyn Kelly&#8217;s lawyer over the terms of her dismissal, network sources are beginning to share more about the behind the scenes drama leading up to the public blowup &#8212; and it doesn&#8217;t have much to do with her questioning if it was necessarily &#8220;racist&#8221; for someone to change their skin tone for Halloween.
The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/megyn-kelly-is-out-at-today-after-her-blackface-comments-but-the-nbc-family-rejected-her-long-ago/2018/10/25/ebd39cd0-d7ac-11e8-aeb7-ddcad4a0a54e_story.html?utm_term=.0f8403b9a318">Washington Post</a> reports that after talking with a &#8220;half-dozen current and former NBC staffers&#8221; on the condition of anonymity, it appears that NBC throwing Kelly under the bus has been a long-time coming, proceeded by &#8220;a compounding list of problems: Inside the building, colleagues had grown envious of her large salary, exasperated by her on-air gaffes and disdainful of her low ratings.&#8221;
&#8220;Everyone&#8217;s feeling is, even if you have to pay her [the remainder of her contract], pay her,&#8221; one staffer told the Post. &#8220;Andy [Lack], you can save face with this entire thing. Just get rid of her.&#8221;
As the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/megyn-kellys-nbc-career-implosion-ugly-dramatic-and-inevitable">Daily Beast</a> highlights, Kelly was already on the rocks over the poor performance of her show, Lack having told her weeks ago that her morning show was going to get the ax. &#8220;Weeks before her blackface gaffe, Kelly was looking for an exit strategy,&#8221; the Beast reports.
In addition to problems with her &#8220;envious&#8221; colleagues and ratings struggles, Kelly recently publicly questioned NBC&#8217;s handling of the Ronan Farrow expose on Harvey Weinstein, a story NBC quashed, prompting Farrow to leave and repeatedly rebuke his former network. According to <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/megyn-kellys-lawyer-wants-ronan-farrow-to-attend-meeting-with-nbc-executives/">Mediaite</a>, Kelly&#8217;s relationship with the network &#8220;soured&#8221; after that:
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Farrow recently accused NBC News of <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/online/ronan-farrow-fires-back-at-nbc-over-weinstein-report-memo-i-was-being-blocked-from-further-reporting/">blocking his reporting on Weinstein</a>, a charge that was denied by network chief Andy Lack. Megyn Kelly covered the spat on her NBC News morning show, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/megyn-kelly-suggests-on-nbc-show-that-outside-investigator-probe-nbc-news-handling-of-weinstein-story/">questioning</a> NBC&#8217;s handling of the Weinstein report, and suggesting the network use an &#8220;outside investigator&#8221; to find out what happened.
In the next few weeks, NBC and Kelly&#8217;s relationship <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/why-is-nbc-actively-hyping-megyn-kellys-blackface-controversy/">soured</a>. Her comments this week defending blackface ignited a controversy that earned public rebukes from her NBC colleagues, and a <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/why-is-nbc-actively-hyping-megyn-kellys-blackface-controversy/">strong condemnation</a> from Lack before the network&#8217;s staff.
</blockquote>
On Wednesday, Lack made clear that he wasn&#8217;t going to stand behind his employee, even after her emotional apology. &#8220;There is no other way to put this: I condemn those remarks; there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them,&#8221; said Lack.
Kelly has hired high-powered lawyer Brian Friedman to represent her in the negotiations over her contract, and Friedman has already made a notable demand: that Farrow be present at the meeting, a move that highlights the role Kelly&#8217;s defense of Farrow may have played in her firing.
The ugly situation revolves around Kelly&#8217;s comments on Tuesday about what is appropriate for Halloween costumes. Noting that &#8220;Real Housewives of New York&#8221; star Luann de Lesseps has been decried as &#8220;racist&#8221; for darkening her skin to dress as Diana Ross, Kelly asked why that was necessarily racist.
&#8220;And people said that that was racist. And I don&#8217;t know!&#8221; said Kelly. &#8220;I thought like, who doesn&#8217;t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don&#8217;t know how that got racist on Halloween.&#8221;
Her comment was portrayed as a defense of &#8220;blackface,&#8221; the racist tradition of a white person applying make-up to mock people of color.
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Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface <a href="https://t.co/07yvYDuAYe">pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe</a>
&#8212; Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1054725740476973057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
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On Wednesday, Kelly issued a tearful apology, an apology which Lack and co. apparently do not find sufficient &#8212; at least, that&#8217;s the network&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37605/nbc-news-reportedly-fires-kelly-over-faux-outrage-ben-shapiro">cynical excuse</a>.&#8221; Here&#8217;s her apology:
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&#8220;I want to begin with two words, I&#8217;m sorry..The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor..Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.&#8221; Megyn Kelly <a href="https://t.co/6hHrvZLNvK">pic.twitter.com/6hHrvZLNvK</a>
&#8212; Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/1055084273420722176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37605/nbc-news-reportedly-fires-kelly-over-faux-outrage-ben-shapiro">NBC News Reportedly Fires Kelly Over Faux-Outrage Concerning Halloween Makeup. It&#8217;s Just A Cynical Excuse.</a>

NBC Sources Suggest Real Reasons Network Wants Megyn Kelly Fired

NBC is reportedly poised to fire host Megyn Kelly after she questioned on air Tuesday why it would be necessarily &#8220;racist&#8221; for someone to change their skin tone to resemble a person of a different race for Halloween. Kelly&#8217;s lawyer is scheduled to meet with NBC executives on Friday, but, according to Mediaite, he&#8217;s coming with a significant demand: that former NBC reporter Ronan Farrow be present at the meeting.
&#8220;Kelly&#8217;s lawyer Brian Friedman will meet with NBC brass and has requested that Farrow &#8212; who left NBC News last year after the network declined to run his expose on Harvey Weinstein &#8212; be present,&#8221; <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/megyn-kellys-lawyer-wants-ronan-farrow-to-attend-meeting-with-nbc-executives/">Mediaite</a> reports. &#8220;Farrow recently accused NBC News of blocking his reporting on Weinstein, a charge that was denied by network chief Andy Lack. Megyn Kelly covered the spat on her NBC News morning show, questioning NBC&#8217;s handling of the Weinstein report, and suggesting the network use an &#8216;outside investigator&#8217; to find out what happened.&#8221;
Mediaite reports that after she pushed back on NBC&#8217;s handling of Farrow&#8217;s story, over the next few weeks, Kelly&#8217;s relationship with NBC &#8220;soured.&#8221;
The blow-up with NBC, at least publicly, revolves around Kelly&#8217;s comments Tuesday about what is or isn&#8217;t out of bounds for Halloween. Citing the particular example of &#8220;Real Housewives of New York&#8221; star Luann de Lesseps getting slammed as racist for darkening her skin in order to look like Diana Ross for Halloween, Kelly pushed back on the idea that that was inherently racist.
&#8220;And people said that that was racist. And I don&#8217;t know!&#8221; said Kelly. &#8220;I thought like, who doesn&#8217;t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don&#8217;t know how that got racist on Halloween.&#8221;
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Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface <a href="https://t.co/07yvYDuAYe">pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe</a>
&#8212; Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1054725740476973057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The comment was immediately characterized as a defense of the racist tradition of &#8220;blackface,&#8221; in which a white person applies dark make-up to portray people of color in a derogatory way. In response, Kelly issued an emotional apology on Wednesday.
&#8220;I want to begin with two words, I&#8217;m sorry,&#8221; she said. She went on to say she was &#8220;wrong&#8221; for her comments about changing one&#8217;s skin tone in light of the history of blackface, which she said she did not fully understand or consider when she made the comments on Tuesday. While she is not someone who accepts &#8220;PC culture&#8221; in general, she suggested, any semblance of defense of that practice was wrong.
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&#8220;I want to begin with two words, I&#8217;m sorry..The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor..Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.&#8221; Megyn Kelly <a href="https://t.co/6hHrvZLNvK">pic.twitter.com/6hHrvZLNvK</a>
&#8212; Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/1055084273420722176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Kelly&#8217;s apology appears not to have been enough. On Wednesday, NBC News chief Andy Lack condemned Kelly&#8217;s comments on Wednesday. &#8220;There is no other way to put this: I condemn those remarks; there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them,&#8221; he said. On Thursday, reports began to emerge that Kelly was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37605/nbc-news-reportedly-fires-kelly-over-faux-outrage-ben-shapiro">going to be fired</a> and that she would be paid out some $69 million.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37548/yes-blackface-terrible-no-megyn-kelly-isnt-racist-ben-shapiro">SHAPIRO: Yes, Blackface Is Terrible. No, Megyn Kelly Isn&#8217;t A Racist.</a>

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