An unofficial NBC source tells Access Megyn Kelly is out at NBC. Kelly will eexit her job as the host of “Megyn Kelly Today” show on Thursday following incredible backlash against comments she made about blackface.
The embattled news host did not host her live “Today” hour on Thursday and sources tell Access that it was because NBC was planning to part ways with her. Kelly faced massive complaints following comments she made 48 hours earlier during a panel discussion on her show where she said she thought it was okay to wear blackface on Halloween because it was make believe.
Kelly and her panel were discussing campus’ telling students not to wear “inappropriate and offensive” costumes this Halloween.
Kelly questioned the campus mandate saying, “But what is racist? Because truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at 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.”
Her commentary made many fans and her NBC colleagues extremely uncomfortable and social media erupted with calls to fire Kelly.
Kelly apologized twice for her comments. First she apologized in an email to her colleagues on her show and she also apologize on-air the next day.
She fought back tears as she issued her apology during her show on Wednesday. “I’m Megyn Kelly and I want to begin with two words: I’m sorry,” she began. “I learned that given the history of blackface being used in awful ways by racists in this country, it is not OK for that to be part of any costume, Halloween or otherwise.”
But it wasn’t a good enough apology for some. Al Roker, another host on the “Today” show said Kelly owed the world a much bigger apology. While he walked with his fellow co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin during Today‘s 7 a.m. hour, Roker blasted Kelly’s comments.
“The fact is, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the county,” he said. “This is a history, going back to the 1830s [with] minstrel shows. To demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right. I’m old enough to have lived through Amos ‘n’ Andy where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters just magnifying the stereotypes about black people. And that’s what the big problem is. … No good comes from it. It’s just not right.”
On Wednesday evening, reports surfaced that Kelly had also parted ways with her agent at CAA and moved to UTA. CAA was the agency that originally brokered Kelly’s massive “Today” show deal.
Access does not have an official comment from Kelly or NBC News at the time of this posting.
WATCH: Megyn Kelly Skips ‘Today’ Amid Controversy Over Blackface Comments
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