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| NBC "Today" show anchor Megyn Kelly will not return to her morning television program, NBC said Friday. Kelly was criticized for comments earlier this week about Halloween costumes involving blackface. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
By Ed Adamczyk, UPI
NBC talk show anchor Megyn Kelly will not return to her daily morning television program, a network spokesperson said Friday.
"Megyn Kelly Today is not returning," the spokesperson said. "Next week, the 9 a.m. hour will be hosted by other Today co-anchors."
Kelly, formerly employed at Fox News, received an immense negative backlash after taking a sympathetic position to white people dressing in blackface at Halloween. "Back when I was I was a kid that was OK as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character," Kelly said on her program Tuesday.
Her usually live program, before an audience and part of NBC's Today show block of morning programming, was replaced on Thursday and Friday by pre-taped episodes.
Kelly apologized for her remarks but on Wednesday, her colleagues at the Today show were critical. Craig Melvin said her comments were "indefensible" and "ignorant and racist." Al Roker suggested Kelly "owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country."
Kelly has not been fired and remains an employee of NBC, her lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Thursday.
Kelly joined NBC in 2017 after 12 years with Fox News. She is in the second year of a three-year, $69 million contract, and a negotiated exit from NBC could include a significant buyout. She has clashed with colleagues and management, and her morning program has received mediocre ratings, The New York Times reported on Friday.
"They're contacting the staff [of Kelly's program] and reassigning everyone today. Everyone's being told that they still have a home here, but it won't be on Megyn's show," an unidentified source told People magazine on Thursday. "Everyone knows what it means when they're being moved somewhere else. The show is clearly over."
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