[ad_1]
Megyn Kelly, the new and much-touted NBC morning hired rookie, has left – for the time being, and perhaps forever – after stating that she did not see the truth about whites wearing a blackface.
Who could have seen him coming, with the exception of those who knew anything about his career?
Kelly took a break from "Megyn Kelly Today" on Thursday after a Tuesday sequence defending whites who wore dark pigmented makeup in Halloween costumes – a practice that has a degrading history dating back to the 19th century minstrel shows.
For Kelly, this story was only a disappointment, spoiling a good innocent moment. "What's racist?" She asked. "When I was a kid, it was O.K. as long as you dressed as a character. (Box: I'm a few years older than Megyn Kelly, and that was not the case, it's also totally out of place in 2018.)
It was breathtaking. This was not something new for Kelly and the race – nor even for the holidays. In a December 2013 segment of her former Fox News show about Santa's racial depictions, she said, "All kids are watching at home" this Santa Claus was really white. (She said the same thing about Jesus, which at least is historically debatable.)
It was not an end of career at Fox News, where the "war on Christmas" and the grievance about "politically correct" are integrated into the brand. Kelly too Minimized reports on racist e-mails sent to the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department and, along with other Fox colleagues, on the sensational coverage of the New Black Panther Party, a marginal organization.
This story was pretty easy to find for anyone considering, for example, signing a $ 17 million annual check for a new TV host.
Now, Kelly, like Roseanne Barr, who was fired by ABC for a racist tweet, may be endangered. Which is revealing, considering how she and Barr introduced themselves.
Perhaps part of what brought Kelly to NBC was what brought "Roseanne" back to ABC – that post-2016 stun state when the media, stunned by the outcome of the election, struggled to good figure with the country Trump.
Kelly seemed to be a way to woo this audience without seeming to let go. She had clashed as moderator of the debate with the then-candidate, Donald J. Trump, who dismissed her questions as "blood coming out of her from anywhere." But she also had a most heartbreaking heel story from Fox News Eagle and could attract viewers who view NBC as the Liberal enemy.
No matter what hired him – replacing "Today's Take," the 9 am show hosted by black presenters Tamron Hall and Al Roker – this was certainly not an ability of relaxation and conversation on morning television, which she had never shown before. "Megyn Kelly Today", nor during this one.
And it was just one of those segments of morning show that would have made it.
This may not be accidental. The comments of Santa Claus and Blackface have both been the subject of spontaneous remarks in what appeared to be planned as "light" segments on holidays and celebrations – the kind of things that are not considered important information .
But holidays are precisely part of the deepest cultural identity of people and the most beautiful memories of their homes and families. That's why the annual freakout on Starbucks cups is an ideal choice for conservative media.
And maybe that's why these discussions may be more inadvertent than people's responses to partisan problems. (Kelly has been more steadfastly outspoken on politics at NBC, while taking tough positions on the #MeToo move, including accusations of abuse against former "Today" moderator, Matt Lauer.)
Tuesday's Kelly panel was all white, which was a problem in itself. But maybe that's also why Kelly felt so comfortable doing what, apparently for her, was a trivial comment, just as she had seen it. make.
It's a model, and not a stranger. That's the kind of comment that comes from people who do not see themselves as racist. They see each other just like, you know, Ordinary. Ordinary. The failure.
They grew up in a world where these normal, normal, and default things were – well, it was like that. were. ("Santa just is white, "said Kelly in 2013, as if she said the sun was rising to the east.) And they do not understand why people are so upset and sensitive about what they regard as harmless.
It is basically the reaction of people who did not have to think much about sharing the world with people different from them. They have never been asked to learn much about these other people, nor to think about how their "harmless" actions, speeches, and entertainment might exclude or harm them. Now, people like Kelly are being asked to learn. And they are perplexed, irritated or really angry about it.
Sometimes this feeling is reflected in a casual remark about Halloween. Sometimes it's "Why should I say" Have a good holiday? »», Sometimes it's tiki torches and "You will not replace us". The degree is different. But it all comes down to this: my thing was once the main thing, the automatic thing, and now it's not, and I do not like it.
It's the driving force behind much of Fox News programming, like Tucker Carlson's cultural war in prime time. But NBC has a wider audience and a different staff. In a gripping public show on Wednesday, Roker said Kelly "needs to apologize more to people of color in the country" and host Craig Melvin said his remarks were "racist and ignorant".
It's also possible that Kelly simply does not have enough ratings to get away with it. It would not be the first time that a television network would do the right thing for the wrong reason.
NBC knew the summary of Kelly's Fox, after all. He should have known that in 2013, with the support of Fox and his audience, she dismissed his criticism of "Santa is white" for making a big deal about a "casual joke" and proving that "Fox News and yours are really big targets".
Wednesday, with her colleagues condemning her, she apologized, her voice jamming in her throat. "I've never been a PC person," she said, "but I understand the value of being sensitive to our history, especially to race and ethnicity" .
She then followed a segment featuring PBS host Amy Holmes and journalist Roland Martin on Blackface's story and the white beauty standard, which was defined by Martin as "a blond woman with blue and white eyes." ". Kelly's remarkable thirteen minutes – white, blue-eyed, blonde – sat in silence, taking a public lesson from two black guests about her own racial unconsciousness and that of many white Americans.
I do not pretend to read in thought or in hearts. Maybe Kelly really sees this time that she's said something wrong – as opposed to quite imprudent – and that she really wants to learn, grow, and change.
People can do it. They should not be getting $ 17 million a year to do it. Perhaps, for issues as fundamental as this, learning should be given priority.
Source link
