“I want to begin with two words: I'm sorry,” Kelly told her audience. “You may have heard that yesterday we had a discussion here about political correctness and Halloween costumes. And that conversation turned to whether it is ever okay for a person of one race to dress up as another: a black person making their face lighter or a white person making their face darker to make a costume complete. I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. Well, I was wrong. And I'm sorry.”<doc-sep>NBC’s Megyn Kelly isn’t done dealing with her Today show segment in which she defended of the idea of wearing blackface for Halloween. NBC Nightly News did a segment on it tonight, in which it noted it is not the first time Kelly has come under fire for her remarks about race. The remarks were made hours earlier, during a panel discussion on her Today show hour, sparking backlash many found “tone deaf,” Nightly News anchor Lester Holt said, generously. During segment on Halloween costumes, Kelly wondered, “What is racist, because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts in blackface at Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween,” adding, “When I was a kid that was okay as long as you were dressed like a character.” Kelly defended reality TV star Luann de Lesseps, who darkened her skin for her Diana Ross costume in 2017. “If she wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, I don’t know how that got racist for Halloween,” Kelly said. “It’s not like she’s walking around in general.” NBC’s newscast reported that Padma Lakshmi, the host of Bravo’s Top Chef, was among many who took to Twitter to explain it to Kelly. “[B]ecause caricaturing another race perpetuates the dehumanization of POC who are being killed & jailed at a disproportionate rate in the US,” Lakshmi tweeted. Maybe most telling, Nightly News’s report went on to say, “this is not the first time Kelly has come under fire for comments about race.” The newscast played a clip of Kelly from her days as a primetime star of Fox News Channel, complaining on her show about a suggestion Santa should not be a white man any more. “Yet another person claiming it’s racist to have a white Santa,” Kelly said, adding “And, by the way for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white… Jesus was a white man too.” Kelly apologized this afternoon in a statement to her Today staff, for her Halloween blackface comments, Nightly News said, quoting it in part: “I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong and I am sorry,” she said. “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.”<doc-sep>'I saw it on TV! ': Why Trump supporter says she believes election lie PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 16: President and CEO, Discovery, Inc. David Zaslav speaks onstage during the Discovery, Inc. TCA Winter Panel 2020 at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 16, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery, Inc.) This is what CNN reporter was working on during period records were obtained secretly LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA - OCTOBER 02: Megyn Kelly speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at Ritz Carlton Hotel on October 2, 2018 in Laguna Niguel, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fortune) (CNN) — NBC host Megyn Kelly apologized to colleagues on Tuesday after her comments defending racist Halloween gags prompted an immediate backlash. “One of the wonderful things about my job is that I get the chance to express and hear a lot of opinions,” Kelly said in the internal note, a copy of which was provided by a spokesperson for NBC. “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 made the offending remarks during an awkward roundtable discussion about inappropriate and offensive costumes on her eponymous one-hour block of the “Today” show, known as “Megyn Kelly Today.” During the 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 discussion, Kelly brought up Luann de Lesseps, a star on “The Real Housewives of New York” who drew a backlash last year for dressing up as Ross. “There was a controversy on The Real Housewives of New York 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,” Kelly said. “And I don’t know, I felt like who doesn’t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day. I don’t know how, like, that got racist on Halloween.” (De Lesseps apologized for the costume, but denied altering her skin.) Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe — Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) October 23, 2018 Many observers were aghast at Kelly’s comments, and some noted that the panel did not include a single person of color. And absent from the discussion was any mention of the ugly history of blackface, a tradition spanning centuries meant to perpetuate racist stereotypes. But the panelists on Tuesday did not echo Kelly’s point of view. “If you think it’s offensive, it probably is,” said the author and television host Melissa Rivers. “Whatever happened to just, manners and polite society?” “But on Halloween? On Halloween you’ve got guys running around with fake axes coming out of their head,” Kelly replied. “You’re going to, it’s going to be jarring.” After Kelly brought up the controversy surrounding de Lesseps, another panelist, MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff piped up. “I haven’t seen it. I have not seen it, but it sounds a little racist to me,” he said. In her note to colleagues after the show aired, Kelly explained that she now understands how she erred with those comments. “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,” she said. “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,” Kelly added. “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.” The response to Kelly, particularly on Twitter, was vociferous on Tuesday, with a number of celebrities joining the pile-on. “I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018. You are on national television,” “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi said in a tweet directed at Kelly. “You have a responsibility to educate yourself on social issues @megynkelly. This is so damaging.” For Kelly, who left Fox News in 2017 to sign a contract with NBC worth a reported $23 million a year, it was not the first time she has drawn accusations of racism. In 2013, while still an anchor at Fox, Kelly infamously addressed the ethnicity of Santa Claus. “By the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white,” she said before bringing Jesus into the discussion for good measure. “Jesus was a white man, too,” she said at the time. “He was a historical figure, that’s a verifiable fact, as is Santa.” Addressing her colleagues on Tuesday, Kelly said she’s “never been a ‘pc’ kind of person – but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age.” “Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year,” Kelly said. “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.”<doc-sep>
Amid growing controversy over Megyn Kelly’s racially insensitive comments about blackface, NBC News has announced that it has canceled Kelly‘s 9 a.m. hour of the Today Show, Megyn Kelly Today. “Megyn Kelly Today is not returning,” an NBC News spokesperson said in a statement. “Next week, the 9 a.m. hour will be hosted by other TODAY co-anchors.” Kelly came under fire earlier this week for saying that she doesn’t understand why blackface Halloween costumes are racist during a roundtable discussion on offensive costumes on her talk show, Megyn Kelly Today. “What is racist?” she asked a panel that included Jenna Bush Hager, Jacob Soboroff and Melissa Rivers. “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. Back when I was a kid, that was okay just as long as you were dressing as a character.” She later apologized in an email to colleagues, writing that she was rethinking her views. “I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry,” she wrote. “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.” However, several of Kelly’s NBC colleagues, including Today show hosts Craig Melvin and Al Roker, denounced her comments on Wednesday. “The fact is, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the county,” Roker said while discussing the incident with Melvin and Savannah Guthrie on Today. “This is a history, going back to the 1830s [with] minstrel shows. To demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right. I’m old enough to have lived through Amos ‘n’ Andy where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters just magnifying the stereotypes about black people. And that’s what the big problem is…No good comes from it. It’s just not right.” Kelly then apologized on-air during Wednesday’s Megyn Kelly Today. “I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. Well, I am wrong and I am sorry,” she said. On Wednesday night, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Kelly had not only parted ways with talent agency CAA, but also hired a Hollywood litigator. Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.