Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly and former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien sparred on Twitter Monday after Kelly defended Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean’s criticism of New York State’s response to the coronavirus.
It all began Saturday when Dean tweeted a response to an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci in which he said New York handled the pandemic “correctly.” Dean posted, “This is garbage.” She followed that up with a tweet on the state’s death tolls: “Sorry Dr. Fauci. 32,000 deaths. 6,000 seniors? Nope.”
O’Brien shared Dean’s original tweet, captioning it, “Meteorologist weighs in.”
Kelly was one of many media figures to jump to Dean’s defense, tweeting, “That ‘meteorologist’s’ name is @JaniceDean. She’s a working mom w/MS who is married to a hero 9/11 fireman. She lost both in-laws in NY nursing homes thx to Cuomo’s disastrous orders & so yeah, she gets an opinion. She also epitomizes class & kindness. Remember those?”
O’Brien responded indirectly, referencing the defense of blackface that lost Kelly her NBC News deal: “What did I do to deserve the Blackface lady tweeting at me while I’m still in bed? This doesn’t bode well for my day, tbh.”
Kelly replied to O’Brien, tweeting, “Oh let me help you! You attacked a woman grieving her dead relatives for challenging the narrative that NY handled corona just great, dismissing her as too small to have an opinion bc she’s just a meteorologist.”
O’Brien noted that with her reply, Kelly admitted to being “the blackface lady” and assigned the word “small” to Dean all on her own.
Nicole Saphier, a physician and Fox News contributor, replied to O’Brien’s original tweet with mediating perspective: “The people of NJ/NY did an incredible job; it’s also true tens of thousands of lives were lost as a result of poor decisions regarding nursing homes & delayed non-COVID health care. You can BOTH be right. Rather than mock, perhaps acknowledge she is suffering & support her grief.”