The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has denounced Megyn Kelly hours after the “Today” host said “blackface” would be OK in some situations on Halloween.
“During the slave trade, some people thought it was OK to treat human beings as property and less than animals,” Malik Russell, a spokesperson for the civil rights organization, told TheWrap on Tuesday. “Maybe in Megyn Kelly’s world, offensive acts and racism are OK, but I assure you for individuals of color, blackface is always racist and never OK.
“According to most studies on implicit bias, many think they are less racist than they really are — and regardless of whether Megyn’s bias is intentional or just implicit, its still wrong,” Russell continued. “As a national public figure, she has a responsibility to check herself – or get checked by those who are tired of racism and being disrespected by individuals who just don’t get it.”
The comments from the NAACP represent the strongest rebuke so far of Kelly for remarks she made on her show earlier Tuesday.
“What is racist?” Kelly asked during a panel discussion with Melissa Rivers, Jacob Soboroff and former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager. “You get in trouble if you’re a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. When I was a kid that was OK as long as you were dressing up as a character.”
Kelly also defended Real Housewife star Luann de Lessep’s decision to darken her appearance for her Diana Ross costume last year.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, the NBC host sent an email to network staffers internally, apologizing for her opinion. The email was obtained by TheWrap.
“To me, I thought, why would it be controversial for someone dressing up as Diana Ross to make herself look like this amazing woman as a way of honoring and respecting her?” said Kelly. “I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.”
“I’ve never been a ‘pc’ kind of person — but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age,” she continued. “Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year.”
Megyn Kelly's 9 Biggest Moments at Fox News, From 2012 Election to Trump Debate (Videos)
After 13 years as one of Fox News' most prominent faces, Megyn Kelly is moving to NBC. Her career has been one filled with viral interviews and high-profile moments, from questioning conservative pundits to intense debates about race to encounters with Donald Trump (weeks before he announced his candidacy in 2015).
After six years as a contributor and substitute anchor, Kelly finally became a full-time Fox News host in 2010. But her breakthrough moment came on Election Night 2012, when she questioned Karl Rove about why he wouldn't accept the network's analysts who called the election for Barack Obama .
This led to Kelly taking matters into her own hands, leaving the set and walking through the hallways of the Fox News to ask the analysts at the decision desk for their reasoning behind calling the race for Obama.
Kelly also had a history of locking horns with the right's major talking heads. In 2013, when Lou Dobbs and Erick Erickson attacked a Pew study that found that 40 percent of women are now the major breadwinners for their households, Kelly called them out.
Kelly also got into a major spat with Newt Gingrich last year when he accused her of being "fascinated with sex" during a discussion of Donald Trump's sexual assault allegations. She ended the segment with this terse sign off: "We’re going to leave it at that, and you can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them, Mr. Speaker."
Which isn't to say that Megyn Kelly was seen by Fox News' liberal critics as a saving grace for the "fair and balanced" network. She was bashed in 2013 when she responded to the suggestion of a diverse Santa Claus by saying: "For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white."
She also got into an extremely heated debate about race with actor and author D.L. Hughley in 2016 over the fatal shootings of black men like Philando Castile and the protests that have spawned from them.
Before the 2016 election, Kelly's biggest moment came when she landed an exclusive interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the stars of "19 Kids and Counting" after a child molestation scandal surrounding their eldest son, Josh Duggar. While the interview was a massive ratings and headline magnet for Fox News, Kelly was criticized for not asking tough questions.
But as Megyn Kelly says goodbye to the house that Rupert Murdoch built, there will always be one moment above all that will define her career: her 2015 face-off with the man who will be the next President of the United States.
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A look back at the anchor’s most famous and notorious on-camera moments
After 13 years as one of Fox News' most prominent faces, Megyn Kelly is moving to NBC. Her career has been one filled with viral interviews and high-profile moments, from questioning conservative pundits to intense debates about race to encounters with Donald Trump (weeks before he announced his candidacy in 2015).
