text: UPDATED: Megyn Kelly’s two-day bad streak just got worse. Deadline hears that the NBC News host who caused such a ruckus with her on-air remarks about blackface and her ensuing apology is no longer a client of CAA and will not be repped by UTA. Kelly has hired leading Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman as she is heading to likely settlement talks with NBC. She is not expected to be hosting her 9 AM show for the rest of the week. 
   
   The news comes as the backlash continues over her comments during Megyn Kelly Today on Tuesday about why it’s not OK for people to wear blackface as a Halloween costume. Fallout from the comments continued today as NBC News chief Andy Lack criticized Kelly during a town hall with staffers and praised the work done by his Today, Nightly News and late-night teams. 
   
   Kelly reportedly had plotted a move from CAA to UTA shortly before the controversy erupted earlier this week. She had left CAA and was close to signing with UTA but the agency now would not proceed with bringing her in as a client under the circumstances. She instead has retained an attorney in Freedman. 
   
   NBC 
   
   It also was revealed this afternoon that cast members and EPs of Netflix’s House of Cards pulled out of guesting on Megyn Kelly Today amid the controversy. 
   
   On her show Tuesday, Kelly and a panel were discussing campus attempts to discourage “inappropriate and offensive costumes” during the trick-or-treat season when Kelly asked: “What is racist? … You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween.” 
   
   The outcry on social media was swift, and Kelly was forced to apologize later in the day. In a note to colleagues, she wrote: “Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including from friends and colleagues, is leading me to rethink my own views.” Kelly added that she “now” realizes that it is “indeed wrong” and that “the history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent, the wounds too deep.” ||||| New York (CNN Business) Two years of pent-up bitterness and backbiting about Megyn Kelly have finally come to a head at NBC News. 
   
   Her exit from the 9 a.m. hour of the "Today" show appears to be imminent. Variety reported on Wednesday evening that Kelly and NBC News executives have been holding conversations about a new role for her. 
   
   Two people familiar with the matter confirmed that to CNN Business and said Kelly's show will be ending. Negotiations about the end date and other details are still underway. But Kelly will not be hosting Thursday's program, and she is unlikely to return later, one of the people said. So "Megyn Kelly Today" may end very soon. 
   
   Kelly has parted ways with her talent agency, CAA, according to two sources, and she has hired attorney Bryan Freedman. 
   
   Kelly's offensive remarks about blackface Halloween costumes on Tuesday have raised more questions about her future at NBC. Spokespeople for NBC News declined to comment, and most staffers at the news division remain in the dark. 
   
   Tuesday's controversy made national news and stoked disappointment and resentment within NBC, according to multiple sources at the network. 
   
   Kelly started her show on Wednesday by apologizing for comments made the previous day. Her audience gave her a standing ovation, but disappointment inside NBC News runs deep and isn't likely to fade anytime soon. 
   
   NBC News chair Andy Lack condemned her racially insensitive comments during a town hall meeting with staffers on Wednesday morning. (The meeting was scheduled well before the controversy ensued.) 
   
   Lack spearheaded Kelly's hiring and championed her 9 a.m. show. But this week his news division has covered the Kelly controversy on multiple programs. Instead of promoting the "Today" show as a happy family, NBC has aired the family's fight — giving time to Al Roker and others who strongly criticized Kelly's comments. 
   
   Tuesday's blackface talk — featuring an all-white panel of guests — was a major misstep. But the Kelly rancor is about more than one segment. 
   
   The New York Times reported on Wednesday evening that Kelly and Lack "discussed a possible winding-down of her portion of the 'Today' show by the end of the year," meaning the conversations pre-dated this week's controversy. 
   
   Kelly has many critics and rivals within the famed news division — people who say she never should have been hired from Fox News, certainly not for such a huge salary, and certainly not for a morning show like "Megyn Kelly Today." 
   
   These NBC staffers routinely call Kelly's show a "disaster" and other disparaging terms. 
   
   Most of the anger isn't directed at her, exactly, but at the management of NBC News — the men who hired her away from Fox in January 2017. 
   
   "We're lucky to have her," Lack said on the day her new deal was announced. 
   
   At the time, some other TV executives agreed. After all, there had been a bidding war for Kelly when it became clear that she wanted to leave Fox. 
   
   Lack called her an "exceptional journalist and news anchor." 
   
   But Kelly was best known for fiery segments on Fox's staunchly conservative prime time schedule. There was widespread concern that she was being miscast at NBC. 
   
   The network said she would have two main jobs: A 9 a.m. talk show and a Sunday night newsmagazine. Her reported salary of $23 million a year for three years, totaling $69 million, became a bit of a scandal inside NBC, even before she started on the air. 
   
   Kelly's morning show premiered in September of 2017. Television critics found a lot to criticize. And Kelly had some early stumbles, like an awkward exchange with Jane Fonda that made headlines for a long time afterward. 
   
   Some of the controversies stoked curiosity about her new show, but mostly it just caused embarrassment and snickering about how long she would last at NBC. Most importantly, the 9 a.m. show did not meet ratings expectations. 
   
   As the Wall Street Journal put it in a headline earlier this year, "NBC bet $69 million on Megyn Kelly — then viewers vanished." 
   
   Kelly's rivals noted that the earlier iteration of the 9 a.m. hour was more profitable back when Roker and Tamron Hall were the hosts. That's partly because they were paid a lot less. 
   
   Some people in the TV business said Kelly was given bad career advice. Others said NBC was unrealistic about expectations for her show. And still others said Kelly's talent was not easily transferable from Fox to other networks. 
   
   NBC introduced Kelly's Sunday newsmagazine, but the program didn't last long. As predicted, it suffered in the ratings versus long-running competitors like "60 Minutes," and it was hobbled by scheduling issues. 
   
   On the air, Kelly's morning show has notched some wins — her show has been full of fascinating conversations and candid interviews. But it is still a ratings laggard. And the blackface controversy reinforces the perception — to the public at large — that Kelly is a Fox News personality, not a member of the "Today" show family. 
   
   During the offending segment on Tuesday, Kelly said it was OK when she was growing up for white people to dress up as black characters, and she spoke out against a controversy that erupted last year over a reality star who portrayed Diana Ross. 
   
   "But what is racist?" Kelly asked. "Because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on 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." 
   
   Later in the day, Kelly said sorry to her colleagues in an email: "Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including from friends and colleagues, is leading me to rethink my own views." 
   
   On Tuesday evening, "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" covered the Kelly story when few other networks paid it much attention. Roker, Melvin and other members of the "Today" show cast had a remarkably candid conversation about the controversy during the 7 a.m. hour of the show on Wednesday. 
   
   The situation demonstrates the continuing unease about and disarray within NBC News over Kelly, whose hire and installation in the network's morning hours was controversial. 
   
   Roker said "she owes a bigger apology to folks of color across the country." 
   
   His blunt words expressed a point of view shared by many within the news organization. 
   
   "Today" colleague Craig Melvin also called out Kelly's comments for being "stupid" and "indefensible." He pointed out that this controversy is an opportunity to inform people — but said most people already knew how offensive blackface is. ||||| Megyn Kelly and NBC News have engaged in conversations about her taking a new role at the news division, according to a person who has spoken with the anchor, suggesting both sides have grown weary of the intense scrutiny being placed on her morning program, “Megyn Kelly Today” and casting significant doubt on its future. 
   
   Word of the shift comes after Kelly stirred outrage on Tuesday during a segment in which she questioned why it was wrong for people to don “blackface” for Halloween costumes. The backlash contributed to CAA dropping Kelly as a client on Wednesday, according to an industry source (and first reported by the Hollywood Reporter). 
   
   But the conversations about ending the 9 a.m. daytime show began before the controversy, the latest since the anchor joined NBC News in March of 2017. 
   
   ”Where do you think Megyn Kelly would be happier, as part of big breaking news or forced to cover light-hearted stories that traditionally work at 9 a.m.?” the source close to Kelly said. Kelly participated in NBC News’ coverage of the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and is slated to take part in NBC News’ election-night coverage on Nov. 6. 
   
   Related NBCUniversal Chief on Megyn Kelly, Andy Lack and Future of NBC News Megyn Kelly, NBC Reach Agreement on Exit 
   
   NBC News declined to comment. 
   
   After Tuesday’s segment, social-media opprobrium came quickly, as did an apology from the anchor. NBC News has continued to cover the fallout for Kelly over the incident on “NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” prompting speculation about the relationship between the high-priced star anchor and others in the news division. 
   
   Success in daytime TV has always been elusive. Other famous anchors have tried their hand in mornings and afternoons in the recent past, and met with middling success. Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper and Meredith Vieira are among the personalities who tackled daytime talk programs in the last few years. All three lasted just two seasons before ending their respective efforts. 
   
   “Megyn Kelly Today” has been a work in progress. At times, it has garnered good notice for Kelly’s willingness to examine tough issues and the #MeToo social-justice movement. She did not shy away from a discussion about the late-2017 ouster of Matt Lauer after NBC News found allegations of sexual harassment levied at him. The anchor has denied some of the charges made against him. In other instances, however, the show has brought unwanted attention, including Kelly’s scolding of actress Jane Fonda. Media buyers said Wednesday that the program had proven to be a disappointment after NBC hyped Kelly’s arrival to its air. 
   
   NBC News Chairman Andy Lack addressed this week’s controversy Wednesday at a town hall meeting with news staffers. “There is no other way to put this but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate,” Lack said, according to people present at the meeting. He added: “As we go forward, my highest priority remains, and as we sort through this with Megyn, let there be no doubt that this is a workplace in which you need to be proud and in which we respect each other in all the ways we know is foundational to who we are.” 
   
   Kelly kicked off her morning show in the fall of a 2017 with a stated desire to get away from the political commentary that fueled her rise at Fox News Channel. “I’m kind of done with politics for now,” Kelly told the audience during her first morning broadcast, noting she she hoped instead to help viewers “get yourself through the day, to have a laugh with us, a smile, sometimes a tear – and maybe a little hope to start your day. Some fun! That’s what we want to be doing.” 
   
   In recent days, however, the anchor has steered the panel discussions that open “Megyn Kelly Today” toward hotter topics, such as the nomination hearings around Justice Kavanaugh and debates around political correctness.
target: – The blackface controversy may have sealed the fate of Megyn Kelly Today. Sources tell Variety that Megyn Kelly has been in talks with NBC execs about abandoning the 9am morning show for a possible new role at NBC News. An insider close to Kelly says both sides are ready for a change and discussions about ending the show began even before the latest controversy. "Where do you think Megyn Kelly would be happier, as part of big breaking news or forced to cover light-hearted stories that traditionally work at 9am?" the source says. CNN, citing "two people familiar with the matter," reports that Kelly's show is definitely ending, and probably soon: The sources say Kelly will not be hosting Thursday's show and might not return at all. In another setback for Kelly, she has parted ways with talent agency CAA but a planned move to UTA has fallen through because of the controversy, Deadline reports. She has instead hired Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman for expected settlement talks with NBC. Sources tell Variety that NBC News chairman Andy Lack, who hired Kelly away from Fox in early 2017, addressed the issue in a town hall meeting with staffers Wednesday, saying: "There is no other way to put this but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate." (On Wednesday's show, Kelly said that she had learned blackface is not OK as part of a costume, "Halloween or otherwise.")