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Megyn Kelly, host of NBC, apologized to her colleagues on Tuesday after her comments on the defense of racist jokes on Halloween prompted an immediate reaction.
"One of the benefits of my job is that I have the opportunity to express and hear a lot of opinions," Kelly said in the internal memo, a copy of which was provided by an NBC spokeswoman . "Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including friends and colleagues, leads me to rethink my own views."
Kelly made these remarks during a roundtable on inappropriate and offensive costumes during her epic one-hour debate on the "Today" show, known as "Megyn Kelly Today".
During Tuesday's segment, Kelly said that everything was fine when she grew up so that whites could disguise themselves as black characters. She spoke out against a controversy that erupted last year about a reality TV star representing Diana Ross.
"But what is racist?" Kelly asked. "Because you have problems if you are a white person who puts a blackface to Halloween, or a black person who uses a whiteface for Halloween. When I was a kid, it was OK, as long as you dressed like a character.
Later in the discussion, Kelly spoke about Luann de Lesseps, a star of "The Real Housewives of New York," which sparked a negative reaction last year to be disguised as Ross.
"There was controversy with Luann about The Real Housewives of New York, and she was dressing up in Diana Ross, and she was making her skin look darker than she actually was and people were saying that it was racist ", Kelly said. "And I do not know, I felt like who does not like Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for a day. I do not know how, for example, it became racist on Halloween. "
(De Lesseps is excused for the costume, but denied having tampered with his skin.)
Many observers were dismayed by Kelly's comments and some noted that the panel did not include a single person of color. And absent from the discussion, there was no mention of the ugly history of blackface, a tradition spanning centuries aimed at perpetuating racist stereotypes.
On Tuesday, panelists did not echo Kelly's point of view.
"If you think it's offensive, it's probably the case," said author and television host Melissa Rivers. "What happened to a fair, polite and polite society?"
"But for Halloween? At Halloween, there are guys running with fake axes coming out of their heads, "said Kelly. "You'll do it, it'll hurt."
After Kelly had evoked the controversy surrounding Lesseps, another panelist, MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff responded to the call.
"I have not seen it. I did not see it, but it seems a little racist, "he said.
In her note to colleagues after the broadcast of the show, Kelly explained that she now understood how she had cheated on these comments.
"When we held the round table earlier today about the controversy that your face looks like a different breed as part of a Halloween costume, I suggested that it looked good if it was done as part of this holiday where people have the chance to be like others, "she said. "The iconic Diana Ross came as an example. For me, I thought, why would it be controversial for someone to dress up as Diana Ross to make herself look like this incredible woman as a way to honor and respect her? "
"I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I'm sorry," Kelly added. "The history of blackface in our culture is abominable; the wounds are too deep. "
The response to Kelly, especially on Twitter, was noisy on Tuesday, with a number of celebrities joining the stack.
"I can not believe the ignorance about this in 2018. You are on national television," said the "Top Chef" moderator, Padma Lakshmi, in a tweet at the same time. Kelly's intention. "You have the responsibility to educate yourself about social issues @ megynkelly. It's so damaging.
For Kelly, who left Fox News in 2017 to sign a deal with NBC worth $ 23 million a year, it was not the first time she was accused of racism . In 2013, while she was still at the anchor of the Fox, Kelly spoke infamously of the ethnicity of Santa Claus.
"By the way, for all the children watching at home, Santa Claus is all white," she said before engaging Jesus in the discussion for good measure.
"Jesus was also a white man," she said at the time. "He was a historical figure, it's a verifiable fact, like Santa Claus."
Sending to his colleagues on Tuesday, Kelly said that she "has never been a person of the" pc "genre, but I understand that we need to be more sensitive these days."
"Particularly on the issues of race and ethnicity that, far from being cured, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year," Kelly said. "It's a time for understanding, love, sensitivity and honor, and I want to be part of it. I look forward to continuing this discussion. "
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