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Eugene Scott
Reporter Covering Identity Policy for The Fix
NBC has decided to part with former presenter Megyn Kelly after comments calling into question the offensive nature of blackface.
In the Monday episode of "Megyn Kelly Today," the TV host rejected the idea that wearing blackface was racist. "You have problems if you are a white guy who puts a blackface for Halloween or a black guy who puts a blank on it," Kelly said. "When I was a kid, it was good as long as you dressed like a character."
She then defended reality star Luann de Lesseps, who apologized for donning Blackface while wearing a Diana Ross costume several years ago.
"She dressed in Diana Ross and she made her skin look darker than she actually is and people said it was racist," Kelly said. "And I felt," Who does not like Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for a day. "I do not know how it became racist on Halloween."
Blackface – using makeup or some kind of face paint to appear black – has historically been used by white actors portraying stereotypical caricatures of black people for entertainment purposes. There are still some examples, especially towards Halloween.
Al Roker, the long-time weather presenter of NBC's "Today" show and former "Today's Take" host, was one of the most outspoken critics of about Kelly. This show has been canceled to make room for Kelly, ex-prime host at Fox News.
Roker, an essential part of the morning show on NBC, was one of the main characters in the story of Kelly's brief period at NBC. Shortly after announcing his intention to join the network, it was revealed that NBC was going to give him a place by pushing Roker and his co-host, Tamron Hall, to the side.
The decision was strongly criticized by those who were sensitive to the lack of racial diversity in mainstream media. Kelly is white and Roker and Hall are black.
Hall, who landed an interview with Sen, then. Barack Obama, before embarking on the presidential election, went into history as the first black woman to co-anchor the "Today" show over its six decades. Roker is prolific, also hosts Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and makes appearances in "Seinfeld" and "Saturday Night Live".
The National Association of Black Journalists, who had previously criticized Kelly News' work at Fox News, accused NBC of "bleaching" its programming by deciding to replace Boss and Roker.
Hall left NBC, but Roker stayed. He was one of NBC's personalities invited to respond live to Kelly's comments to the dark side.
Roker, along with NBC black journalists Craig Melvin and Morgan Radford, criticized Kelly's comments and said his apology was insufficient.
"Although she apologized to the staff, she has to apologize more to the people of color of the country," Roker said. "Because it's a story going back to the 1830s, the minstrel shows aimed at belittling and denigrating a race were not correct. I'm old enough to have lived 'Amos' And', where black-faced Whites played two black characters that only magnified black stereotypes. And that's the big problem.
It was not the first time Kelly was criticized for his comments on the breed. Before NBC decides to be part of its range:
- Fox News apologized after its show used a legend referring to the first lady, Michelle Obama, as "Obama's Baby Mama".
- Kelly claimed that one policeman was not a saint, a black teenager stuck to the ground in a swimsuit.
- She argued that Sandra Bland, a black woman found suspended in her prison cell three days after being arrested in a traffic stop, would still be alive if she had just obeyed the police.
- She accused the black community of having a "thuggish mentality" that considered it "cool" to "hate the cops somehow, to hang out – and to be someone who does not necessarily deserve to." to be present for his family ".
- She claimed that Jesus Christ, a Jewish man born in Bethlehem, and Santa Claus, a fictitious character, were white.
On Thursday, rumors circulated that it was all about knowing when and not whether NBC would separate from Kelly. Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post reported earlier this day:
The relationship between Kelly and NBC News President Andy Lack – who seduced her on the network in 2017 with the promise of freedom and a large pay check – was tense for months. As previously reported by the New York Times, the two men spoke earlier this month to explain the dysfunction of the series and set a course to follow, possibly with Kelly in a different role.
But for many NBC viewers who want the news media to be champions of diversity or, at the very least, not to romanticize behaviors that large sections of the American public find offensive, offensive and insensitive to the public. race, Kelly's approach to journalism did not work. "Long before Hall and Roker were jostled to make room for him.
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