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Catholic League President Accuses NBC of ‘Phony Outcry’ Over Megyn Kelly ‘Blackface’ Comments

Bill Donahue says Seth Meyers and Jay Leno make jokes at the expense of Catholic priests

| October 26, 2018 @ 9:09 AM
Megyn Kelly

NBC

Megyn Kelly has a new defender in her corner as she heads towards a potential exit at NBC: Catholic League president Bill Donahue.

Donahue called out what he perceived to be a double standard at NBC in a lengthy statement on Friday. “Megyn Kelly was obviously not dropped by NBC because all the executives and hosts who work there are opposed to bigotry,” he said. “In fact, many of them like it. Indeed, they have been promoting it for decades.”

NBC News on Friday confirmed that Kelly is in talks to exit the network after defending whites wearing blackface for Halloween on the Tuesday edition of her “Megyn Kelly Today” morning show.

Also Read: Gayle King Says Megyn Kelly 'Clearly Stepped in It' (Video)

Donahue’s chief argument focused on the jokes that the network has made at the expense of Catholic priests and nuns, pointing out many instances where NBC talent, including Al Roker, Jay Leno, Seth Meyers and the short-lived comedy “You, Me and the Apocalypse,” mocked the Catholic church. Most of the jokes had to do with the issue of child molestation within the Catholic Church.

“NBC executives should be honest and admit that they were looking for a way to get rid of Kelly and seized upon her ‘blackface’ Halloween story to do so,” Donahue continued. “They should also admit that they lie when they say they are opposed to bigotry in all of its manifestations. They clearly are not.”

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TheWrap studied and ranked the Q Scores for television’s most popular anchors and newscasters

TheWrap studied 30 popular TV media personalities according to their Q Scores, an industry-used measurement of a celebrity or a brand's likability based on marketing surveys of 25- to 54-year-olds. We also included a Familiarity score for each, which indicates how well-known someone is to survey-takers.  

It's worth noting that the Positive Q Score for any celebrity with a Familiarity score less than 20 should be considered unstable. And some media stars like Fox News' Laura Ingraham and CNN's Don Lemon have not yet been included in surveys.

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