NBC cancels Megyn Kelly’s show after blackface controversy
- The cancellation of her morning show came after she appeared to defend blackface as a Halloween costume
Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News Channel personality who made a rocky transition to softer news at NBC, was fired from her morning show Friday after triggering a furore by suggesting it was OK for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.
“Megyn Kelly Today is not returning,” NBC News said in a statement. The show occupied the fourth hour of NBC’s Today program, a time slot that will be hosted by other co-anchors next week, the network said.
NBC didn’t address Kelly’s future at the network. But negotiations over her exit from NBC are underway, according to a person familiar with the talks who wasn’t authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Kelly, said in a statement that she “remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing”. He did not elaborate.
Kelly is in the second year of a three-year contract that reportedly pays her more than US$20 million a year.