Megyn Kelly says she does not “pity” Jimmy Kimmel over his MAGA backlash and short-lived suspension.
The one-time network star, who ruffled President Donald Trump’s feathers at Fox News before a brief stint at NBC, said Kimmel did not stand up for her when she was “canceled” in 2018 for questioning if blackface is acceptable on Halloween.
“Remember when I was canceled and held back tears on the air & Kimmel stood up for me, saying, ‘All she did was ask a question about blackface Halloween costumes, whereas I, Jimmy, have actually worn blackface many times & still have a show! This is wrong!’” she sarcastically posted to X on Wednesday.
She continued, “Me neither. F him and his self pity.”
Neither Kelly nor ABC responded to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Kelly’s morning show on NBC was canceled in October 2018 after she questioned on air why the use of blackface is considered wrong as part of Halloween costumes.
“But what is racist?” Kelly, 54, said. “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 OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”
Backlash ensued, and Kelly opened her show the following morning with an apology.
“I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry,” she said.
The on-air apology did not save her job, however. NBC announced two days later that it was canceling Megyn Kelly Today. The Syracuse native officially left the network the following January, having secured the full value of her $69 million contract.
Kelly, now a MAGA-friendly podcaster, has raged at Disney’s decision to reinstate Kimmel, 57. Her latest post about the comedian came the morning after Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to the air on Tuesday night.
“When you’re a leftist, you don’t really get canceled, unlike those on the right who are getting canceled and even killed,” she said on her show earlier Tuesday, referring to the assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel made an emotional address to Kirk’s widow, Erika, in his return to air on Tuesday. He did not, however, issue an apology to MAGA for saying they were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kimmel did not comment on Kelly’s firing in 2018. He has his own history with blackface, having used it during Comedy Central skits in the early 2000s to portray Black celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Snoop Dogg, and the disgraced NBA star Karl Malone.
Clips from The Man Show, where Kimmel performed controversial skits with black makeup on his face and exaggerated accents, resurfaced by 2020, prompting Kimmel to issue an apology. He said that he had “evolved and matured,” and regretted ever using blackface. His show on ABC continued as usual amid the controversy.
“There is nothing more important to me than your respect, and I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke,” he said.
Kelly famously stood up to Trump after the then-candidate insulted her in 2015 for asking him tough questions while moderating a GOP presidential debate. Trump hit back at the then-Fox News commentator, saying she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
She later became a strong supporter of the president and appeared at a campaign rally with him in November 2024.
The post Bitter Megyn Kelly Whines That Jimmy Kimmel Got Treated Better Than Her appeared first on The Daily Beast.
