Megyn Kelly out after blackface comments: how did we get here?

Host Megyn Kelly lost her job after defending blackface Halloween costumes. Where did she come from, and what does this all say about American media?

It all began with a thought about Halloween costumes. Sort of. Where and how Megyn Kelly met her current fate turns out to be a rather involved chain of events. The cancellation of her show is only the most recent turn.

Only a week ago, on the Today show’s hour-long “Megyn Kelly Today” segment, Kelly tried to defend blackface on Halloween. “But what is racist?” she asked during a roundtable discussion. “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 okay, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”

Residents of Kelly’s hometown of Bethlehem, New York, do not remember blackface-heavy Halloweens during the 1980s when Kelly was a child. Neither do many other people who are the same age as Kelly, like comedian Patton Oswalt.

Kelly’s comments sparked a rapid downfall. As of now, her show has been canceled, talent agencies won’t represent her, and she’s out of a job. Kelly herself remains at the center of the latest debate on media and race in the United States.

Where did Megyn Kelly come from?

Like so many scandals as of late, Kelly’s fame traces back to the last presidential election. She had risen to particular prominence in 2016 after a combative turn between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and herself during a debate. Trump later complained about Kelly’s aggressive questions, saying that, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

The feud between Kelly and Trump pushed her more into the public eye and garnered her plenty of sympathy. Even the liberal-friendly Washington Post came to her defense.

Last year, she secured a major deal with NBC, moving there from the Fox News cable network. She would host Megyn Kelly Today to the tune of $69 million, to be paid out over three years. She went from the aggressive world of cable news and talking heads to the somewhat more cheerful realm of morning TV.

Kelly was not always going for the appealing, chat-over-coffee sort of vibe. In her time at Fox News, Kelly generated plenty of debate with her reporting. In 2013, she gained notoriety when she claimed that Santa Claus was, is, and should always be white.

When discussing an article by Aisha Harris that advocated for a non-white Santa, Kelly argued that Santa was indisputably white. “Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change,” she said. “Jesus was a white man, too. It’s like we have, he’s a historical figure that a verifiable fact, as is Santa.”

It’s worth noting here that Jesus’ race has been the subject of debate that predates Kelly by a long shot. Among all the argument, though, it’s highly unlikely that a man living about 2,000 years ago in the Middle East had blond hair, blue eyes, or pale skin. Meanwhile, Santa Claus – based on a real bishop who lived in what is now Turkey – is fictional.

Fox News to NBC

Though her Santa comments brought liberal criticism, Kelly kept her job and, presumably, her opinions. That did not magically change once she moved to NBC. Though Kelly and her team worked to soften her image, her opinions still came to the fore.

This is where we come back to more recent matters of Kelly’s comments on blackface and Halloween costumes. Hours after her remarks, Kelly apologized. “I’ve never been a ‘PC’ kind of person,” she wrote in an internal NBC email, “but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age.”

The apology wasn’t enough to save her show or reputation. Criticism kept coming in, at a pace and intensity that did not match Kelly’s cable news days. Al Roker, the long-term weatherman on the Today, even issued an on-air reprimand, saying that Kelly “owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country.” Many agreed with Roker, pointing out that Kelly’s apologies appeared to pay mere lip service to the long and racist history of blackface in the United States.

Kelly hired lawyer Bryan Freedman, who was tasked with negotiating her departure from NBC and the $69 million contract. It didn’t help that Kelly’s show was not a ratings darling like executives had hoped.

Right now, Kelly’s future is uncertain. Reportedly, she was surprised by the reaction to her blackface comments. She must have thought that she could simply weather the media storm as she had at Fox News. That notion did not hold, however. Her show was officially canceled on Friday. She now has no talent agent and no job.

What now?

With a massive payout from her contact, Kelly herself probably doesn’t need to worry, financially speaking. Also, given time and a forgetful public (perhaps with some sensitive media appearances here and there), it’s conceivable that she’ll return to the spotlight.

As viewers and consumers, though, we have much to consider. What does Megyn Kelly’s continued prominence say about us and our media landscape? Why did Kelly, with her documented history of insensitive and often thoughtless comments, land such a big deal with NBC in the first place?

Kelly arguably built her brand at Fox News, where she fit in with a culture that often derided “political correctness” and prized views designed to offend. Then again, she also clashed with Donald Trump, a turn that seemed to transform her, at least for a while, into a bit of a cipher.

For some, she was a proud conservative, possibly one that executives hoped would bring red-state viewers into the NBC fold. For others, she was someone that had stood up to the unpopular president and supported the #MeToo movement, given her some form of progressive cred.

It’s hard to figure out what Kelly herself actually thinks about all of this. She followed her on-air apology with a 13-minute segment where Amy Holmes and Roland Martin, both African-American, spoke about the history of blackface and racism in America. Kelly remained largely silent, listening to Martin and Holmes.

Megyn Kelly versus “Megyn Kelly”

Then again, there’s that payout. The Santa comments. The way in which Kelly coasted into a hugely profitable (for her) deal on her reputation as an appealing white woman with a history of racially insensitive comments. She’s apologized before, after all. Where has that led us? Maybe she isn’t a quasi-progressive darling, or an arch-conservative, or anything other than an opportunistic media personality.

Ultimately, Kelly’s true beliefs aren’t the point. What matters more is how she has constructed herself and how we accept that presentation. As cruel as it is, Megyn Kelly, human being, doesn’t have much stake here. “Megyn Kelly,” the media persona who thinks that blackface is maybe not so bad and only takes it back when her job is in jeopardy, should be our focus.

When someone like Megyn Kelly presents themselves, do we wholeheartedly accept them or take a critical look at their record? Is it fair that Kelly has already been given second chances and vast opportunities for offensive rhetoric?

Who gets silenced when Megyn Kelly speaks? After all, someone else could be occupying her chair. For Megyn Kelly to get the opportunity to sit in front of a camera and talk, many other people are denied the same. In a media landscape that seems determined to consume itself with attempts at authenticity and a stumbling awareness of social issues, that awareness is all we really have.

Maybe, if only just once, we can turn that awareness away from Megyn Kelly and let her finally fade from public view.