Megyn Kelly

Did the ratings take a hit when they replaced one blond automaton with another?

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“”And it’s true, Kelly is definitely the blonde wigstand on Fox News who is least awful. But that does not mean she is not the worst, also too! Like one time she said she wasn’t going to be too hard on poor Maw and Paw Duggar for covering up their son Josh’s sister-diddling ways. And why? Because Bill Clinton, obviously.

—Evan Hurst

Megyn Marie Kelly (1970–) is a former lawyer and Faux News anchor, essentially.

She identifies as a careerist mercenary "Independent" and a "feminist who won't actually call herself a feminist". (Uh-huh.)

However, Megyn has been known to call out the GOP's bullshit more than other Fox News pundits. It’s no coincidence that Kelly left the Eye of Sauron to go work for NBC. However, in October 2018, Kelly was fired for on-air remarks she made on her talk show surrounding the appropriateness of blackface as part of Halloween costumes.

New look, same poor taste

She often appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show, the O'Reilly Factor, where she got a free pass from Papa Bear, and later hosted a "news" show immediately following O'Reilly Factor. And speaking of Billo, Kelly is basically his female clone, being known for getting into shouting matches with her guests, spouting wingnut talking points, then making condescending remarks when rebutted with actual facts, or just essentially letting wingnuts themselves spout their talking points, essentially.

She later worked for NBC News. Unsurprisingly, her show there was an abject failure, and was described as a "nightmare". Kelly's weird remarks – such as questioning an audience member whether he "became gay" after watching "Will & Grace", or offensive remarks about Jane Fonda and plastic surgery – would not have been seen as out of place in the echo chamber of Fox News, but on NBC these were seen as crass and offensive. A number of stars have expressed their regret at being on the show in the first place. Her interview with Alex Jones was widely criticized by relatives of the Sandy Hook shootings and by Jones himself, who called Kelly "Medusa". Although it's unclear as to how much Kelly "lost" her battle with Jones, the whole thing effectively spiraled into a PR nightmare for NBC News – one Kelly could no longer handle. Additionally, her interview with Vladimir Putin was seen as too lenient and, well, just a bit boring.

Best of

• She was one of the early birds to hype the New Black Panther panic.

• She has been described as "homophobia's biggest ally" on the Fox News Channel—one hell of a title.

• She demonstrates a distaste for other women quite frequently, like the time she defended Carly Fiorina’s whopper about Planned Parenthood stealing infants' brains, or when she failed to challenge Andrew Napolitano after he claimed that “Contraceptive services means contraception, euthanasia, and abortion.”

• Her shutting down of Huckabee after the gay marriage decision or calling Bill O'Reilly out on his support of stop and frisk.

• Election Night 2012: Karl Rove, his face falling by inches as he watches the results roll in, bolts for the exit all of a sudden. Megyn Kelly follows after him, peppering him with questions about how he could have gotten it all so wrong and refusing to let up even as he tries to wave her off.

• She has been highly critical of Donald Trump and his bluster. According to an interview on Fresh Air (NPR), Trump threw her life into chaos by directing his anger at her. Death threats, rape threats, people digging into her life, harassing people close to her, staking out her house. She said her biggest fear was that something would happen while she was out with her kids. Eventually, Trump pulled out of the Fox debates rather than deal with her for one more second. That meme was the worst thing Trump ever did since it forced decent people to side with Megyn Kelly. Worry not, she and Trump patched things up in time for a highly-rated interview on The Kelly File. It was a real softball interview; no issues were covered, no real policy discussed, it was all crap like:

"But what do you feel, Donald?"

"You are powerful... but with great power comes great responsibility."

"Do you ever feel wounded?"

The biggest 'revelation' was Trump's admission that he doesn't drink. Megyn, you've gotta be more hard-hitting than this if you want to build up an image as a tough journalist. (You're all missing the point of the interview. It was to make females FEEL good about voting Trump, essentially.)

• 2016 Presidential Debates: Watching Fox News was hilarious. They criticized Hillary's reactions as not being "attractive', and Kelly almost had a brain aneurysm. Between the Trump campaign and Roger Ailes' blatantly sexist culture, it's a wonder why she stays. Her $20,000,000+ salary might have a little something to do with that.

• The Donald believes that Kelly is "infatuated with sex". Who in their right mind thought Newt Gingrich was the appropriate mouthpiece to convey that message? Anyway, she flattened (broken link) him with no effort, and Newt responded like a whiny baby.

Quotes

“”Toughen up, buttercup!

—Advice to whiny feminists. (It's worth noting that people who make these kinds of dismissive statements react very poorly when others use the same language with them.)

“”[Police pepper spray is] like a derivative of actual pepper. It’s a food product, essentially.

—Megyn Kelly, on the Lieutenant John Pike incident (Remember kids, cyanide is like a derivative of almond, so it's also a food product!)

“”Yes, thank you. For all of those kids watching Fox News at 9:40 at night, Santa is white. And Santa can't just change colors, it's not like he's magic or something. Plus black Santa is a horrible idea. If a homeowner in Florida sees a black man coming down their chimney, he is going to get shot.

—Stephen Colbert on Kelly's insistence that Santa and Jesus were WASPs

“”Why can't it be a day where we take a moment and we stop and acknowledge the role that God has played in the formation of this country and its laws? What's so promotional about religion there?

—America Live w/Megyn Kelly, 16 April 2010

See also

• Style over substance
• Christina Hoff Sommers
• Milo Yiannopoulos
• A Comprehensive Guide To Megyn Kelly's History Of Right-Wing Media Misinformation