Megyn Kelly did not hold back her thoughts on what she called NBC’s “agenda”-fueled handling of Savannah Guthrie’s first interview since her mother Nancy went missing two months ago.
On Thursday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the host slammed Guthrie’s “Today” colleague Hoda Kotb for doing a poor job interviewing her in a three-part special, scheduled to wrap Friday. Kelly thought Kotb was not the person for this particular interview and that NBC had an “inappropriate” agenda for the show to feel like a family.
“With respect, I have to say I think Hoda Kotb fell down on the job, and I don’t think she was the woman for the interview,” Kelly said. “They put her out there because they use this as a promotional vehicle. The two are friends — ‘Look, we’re a big family, look at them relating.’ They kept her mic up for her empathetic sounds and her active listening, which was actually a major distraction and very odd in the choice, because normally the network would turn down Hoda’s mic during Savannah’s very compelling answers, especially in an interview this big.”
Kelly added: “The reason they left Hoda’s mic open is because, I’m telling you, NBC had an agenda here – which was to show you one big, happy family. Look how empathetic she is. It was an inappropriate choice, journalistically, because it served as only a distraction. This interview was not about Hoda, it was about Savannah. And I’m sorry, but Hoda kept wiping away tears that weren’t there either. This was acting on Hoda Kotb’s part, and it was a distraction and an unnecessary one.”
Watch Kelly’s full take on the “Today” interview between Guthrie and Kotb in the video below:
In Thursday Part 2 of the interview, Guthrie recounted the moment she learned her mom was missing and what her reaction is now to how the authorities have conducted their search and investigation. She also cried over the possibility that it was her fame that made her mother a target, saying, “Honestly, we don’t know anything.”
“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl, that lady has money. We can make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense,” Guthrie said. “We don’t know, but, yeah, that’s probably … which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside. That it’s because of me. And I just say I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry.”
Nancy Guthrie was abducted early in the morning on Feb. 1. Both the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are still leading the investigation with Savannah Guthrie offering a $1 million reward in addition to the FBI’s $100,000 reward for information that leads to her recovery. Despite the search still ongoing, Guthrie has left Arizona where the abduction took place and returned to New York City.
“It’s still going. People have worked tirelessly, tirelessly. And we see that, but we need answers,” she continued. “We cannot be at peace without knowing, and someone can do the right thing. And it is never too late to do the right thing and our hearts are focused on that.”
The third and final part of Kotb’s conversation with Guthrie is set to air on NBC Friday.
