Author: John Koblin and Michael M. Grynbaum / Source: New York Times
Megyn Kelly struggled on Wednesday to contain a growing crisis over her racially insensitive remarks during a “Today” show broadcast, statements that propelled longstanding tensions between the former Fox News anchor and her NBC News colleagues into public view.
Several of Ms. Kelly’s fellow NBC stars denounced her for wondering aloud, on-air during “Megyn Kelly Today” on Tuesday, why it was inappropriate for white people to dress in blackface on Halloween.
On Wednesday’s “Today” show, the NBC anchor Craig Melvin called her comments “racist and ignorant,” and Al Roker, the usually genial weatherman, said that Ms. Kelly “owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country.” The MSNBC anchor Jacob Soboroff wrote on Twitter that her remarks were “vile.”
Ms. Kelly issued a tearful apology of her own at the top of her 9 a.m. broadcast, telling viewers, “I’m Megyn Kelly and I want to begin with two words — I’m sorry.” Hours later, her boss, the NBC News chairman Andrew Lack, criticized her comments at a private gathering of network employees — and offered no praise for her attempts to redeem herself.
“There is no other way to put this, but I condemn those remarks,” Mr. Lack said at a midday staff meeting held in the “Saturday Night Live” studios in Midtown Manhattan. “There is no place on our air or in this workplace for them.”
His comments were seen within NBC as a stinging rebuke, according to interviews with four people close to the network who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive conversations.
Even before this week, the future of Ms. Kelly’s show was up in the air. During a meeting this month, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Lack discussed a possible winding-down of her portion of the “Today” show by the end of the year, according to two people briefed on the conversation. And Ms. Kelly has expressed among friends her dissatisfaction with its top news executives.
Late Wednesday, Ms. Kelly and her Hollywood talent agency, Creative Artists Agency, ended their relationship, according to two people informed of the decision.
With a reported annual salary of $17 million and the NBC hype machine in full swing, Ms. Kelly, 47, arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza last spring hoping to become the first Fox News personality to successfully leap to the gentler realm of morning network TV.
Instead, she has struggled to attract viewers and offended celebrity guests (notably the actress Jane Fonda). She also alienated some “Today” show…
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