Megyn Kelly Defends Blackface: “When I Was a Kid, That Was Okay”

With Halloween rapidly approaching, morning news networks have started discussing costume dos and don’ts, and we have yet to get through a segment without some sort of reflection on the “political correctness” debate. On Tuesday morning, Megyn Kelly added her two cents, but her argument likely didn’t come out as she’d hoped. In an uncomfortable turn, Kelly seemed to defend blackface, saying that “it was okay” when she was young. The Today host also came to the defense of Real Housewives of New York City star Luann de Lesseps, who “made her skin look darker than it really is” to look like Diana Ross earlier this year and was criticized for being “racist.”
After discussing specific “don’t” costumes, like the sexy Handmaid’s Tale outfit — “Get over it. Wear what you want,” said Kelly — the panel, which included Melissa Rivers, Jenna Bush Hager, and MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff, dove into a conversation about racist outfits. “But what is racist?” asked Kelly. “Because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as a character.” Rivers argued that “people who were raised in polite society wouldn’t think that dressing as a Nazi was okay,” and Kelly agreed, but rather than stop there, she chose to double down.
“There was a controversy on the Real Housewives with Luann. And she dressed as Diana Ross. And she made her skin look darker than it really is, and people said that that was racist,” said Kelly. “And I felt like, ‘Who doesn’t love Diana Ross?’ She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day — I don’t know how that got racist on Halloween. It’s not like she’s walking around in general.” Let’s not forget that de Lesseps issued an apology after the incident, telling Andy Cohen that she was “horrified.”
Soboroff didn’t hesitate before saying, “It sounds pretty racist to me,” but he was quickly pushed aside by Rivers. “If she really wanted to look like Diana Ross, she should have dressed like Michael Jackson.” Kelly and the audience (with the exception of a few black women behind Kelly) laughed uproariously, while Soboroff shook his head and Bush Hager looked on silently.
UPDATED: Just a few hours after Megyn Kelly Today aired, the host apologized for her comments in a email to colleagues. Kelly wrote that the discussion — and the resulting backlash — has prompted her to “rethink” her views, as she realizes now that blackface “is indeed wrong.” According to a copy of the email obtained by Mediaite, Kelly said:

When we had the roundtable discussion earlier today about the controversy of making your face look like a different race as part of a Halloween costume, I suggested that this seemed okay if done as part of this holiday where people have the chance to make themselves look like others The iconic Diana Ross came up as an example. To me, I thought, why would it be controversial for someone dressing up as Diana Ross to make herself look like this amazing woman as a way of honoring and respecting her?

I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.

Kelly went on to explain that she’s “never been a ‘PC’ kind of person,” but she understands that we need to be “more sensitive” about “race and ethnicity issues.” Continued Kelly, “This is a time for more understanding, love, sensitivity and honor, and I want to be part of that. I look forward to continuing that discussion.”
Watch the uncomfortable Megyn Kelly Today segment above.

Where to stream Megyn Kelly Today