You have Kendrick Lamar in your head now too, right? Earlier this week, Megyn Kelly absolutely went off on Jane Fonda. This was after Jane made a throwaway joke, on the Today Show, about Megyn bringing up Jane’s plastic surgery last September in an interview at an inappropriate time. Jane made a brief remark about Megyn, everyone laughed and the moment would have been forgotten, except that Megyn did a really tone deaf segment on her morning show responding to Jane. Megyn defended her stupid question by posting clips from Jane’s other interviews in which she’d discussed her face lift. That would have been bad enough, but then Megyn brought up Jane’s activism from 45 years ago as if that was still relevant. It’s like Megyn thought that NBC was Fox News and that type of nonsense would fly. She even used the Fox News “some people say” tactic by claiming that there are still veterans who call Fonda “Hanoi Jane.” That’s not relevant to whether Jane objected to an interview question. Megyn is getting paid an obscene amount of money for someone this sh-tty at her job. She’s also alienated other celebrities like Debra Messing.
Ann Curry, who was of course forced out of a job she did infinitely better than Megyn, was on The View earlier this week and was asked what she thought about Megyn’s rant. (She also spoke in general terms about the toxic environment there under Matt Lauer.) Here’s what she said:
Journalists are not supposed to be the story… We’re supposed to be humble. We’re supposed to use whatever time we’re given to shine a light on other stories. I mean there are so many stories that we’re not covering, and to take time with this… is not journalism.
You can see Ann, Whoopi and Joy’s comments on YouTube. Ann’s comments start at around 2:30 after Sonny Hostin said “I’ve never seen a journalist do something like that.” Meghan McCain mentioned how petty this is. “All of this is beneath all of us,” which is true, it’s ridiculous. Whoopi brought up the point that if she can forgive Megyn for telling kids that Santa is white, Megyn can forgive Jane. Then Sonny mentioned that Megyn Kelly is now the highest paid anchor on NBC. She makes $20 million a year! What is with NBC promoting mediocre and inept people?
Well NBC realizes that they screwed the pooch on this one. Page Six has a new report that NBC honchos are so surprised that Megyn attacked Jane. Does NBC vet anyone at all? Did they watch none of Megyn’s old interviews?
Sources say the public flogging shocked Kelly’s fellow NBC News staffers.
“The problem is that nobody at NBC is controlling Megyn. They paid her more than $20 million to host the 9 a.m. show, and she’s been given too much power. But the fact remains: You can’t say those things, or be so aggressive, on morning TV,” said an insider. “Plus, Megyn was already having trouble booking celebrities — so how is she ever going to book other stars if they disagree and she later goes on air later and trashes them?”
Oh and US Magazine has a story that Megyn gets along really well with the decent hosts on Today, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. They quote a source who claims “The ladies are all friends and supportive of each other.” Of course they are, Savannah and Hoda are super nice and aren’t catty at all. Meanwhile both Hoda and Savannah are getting around $7 million a year, or just over a third of what Megyn makes. Ratings are down for Megyn and up for Savannah and Hoda because Savannah and Hoda are fun and watchable while Megyn makes viewers cringe. Hopefully NBC will pay attention to their audience when it comes time for contract negotiations. I hope they dump Megyn and she has to crawl back to Fox News. I also want to see Ann on TV again, but not on NBC, she deserves better than that.
Screenshots via WENN and YouTube
She was right about Jane though… suddenly getting offended at talking about ageing etc when she has basically had a second career out of being the older woman everyone looks up to. It was stupid. The movie is about ageing too lol
Ugh no she wasn’t and by the way Robert Redford is a textbook plastic surgery don’t but MK would never have asked him about what he’s done to his face. Because SEXISM.
Have you seen Robert Redford? He’s wrinkled as a prune. There’s no way he’s had plastic surgery.
He had fairly obvious eyelift at one point. It seems more settled in now.
Redford still has wrinkles but he most definitely had his face tweaked. And it’s true that no one would ask him about it.
She wasn’t so offended by the question itself, but by the context in which she asked it. They were talking about something else, something that actually matters, and Kelly was like yeah yeah, tell us about your plastic surgery…
Just because someone has talked about something in the past, it doesn’t mean they are obligated to talk about it every time. And there are ways to lead the conversation to a place in which you can ask such questions, which more talented journalists than Kelly would know how to do.
Yup. Kelly asked her about plastic surgery out of context as a way of picking on Fonda. Just mean, partisan and unprofessional.
I think I get more annoyed because conservatives who have spouted some of the most vile, untruthful nonsense have been allowed to fail up. Megyn Kelly moving to Today (and now being their highest paid anchor). Sean Spicer and Corey Lewandowski are Visiting Fellows at Harvard. After being fired from the Trump campaign for his aggressiveness towards a female reporter, Lewandowski was then hired as a contributer on CNN. . These are people that have damaged U.S. discourse in a way that may not be repaired for at least a decade.
“I also want to see Ann on TV again, but not on NBC, she deserves better than that.” She has a new show on PBS, I believe it is about reuniting people who went through something impactful together, and you can also stream it on Facebook. We should all do that, so her ratings end up better than Megyn’s.
“Some people say” Megyn is undertalented, unlikable, and overpaid, and NBC should ditch her as soon as possible.
I have watched it and it is very moving. I recommend it. It is a wonderful vehicle for Ann Curry, who deserves a successful show. I stopped watching NBC as a kid with my mom when they pushed out Jane Pauley. I would intermittently tune in over the years aftrr that until everything happened with Ann Curry. It’s not surprising that the highest paid woman on NBC is as tone deaf as they are.
Back in the day, journalists were humble AND objective. Not any more — everybody wants to be a celebrity — a big star. Celebrity worship propagated this & it continues to get worse. Outrage & unrivaled sanctimony rule the day.
Neither of those two are journalists. Most talking heads on TV are not either.
Ann is. She has a degree in journalism, and worked for many years reporting from war zones, natural disasters, etc.
Oh Megyn. This is NOT going well for you. I’m going to go play the worlds smallest violin over here in the corner for you.
I don’t normally get to see daytime tv, but I just so happened to catch that discussion. I think Meghan McCain had the most insightful commentary. She discussed what it’s like working at Fox News where they condone that kind of “reporting” because the network is all about the party line, and there are no opposing viewpoints discussed on any matter. She said Kelly needs to learn that’s not how the real world works.
I work in events in media and journalism and I have met Ann in person. Extremely kind and humble. She was checking into our event and was like “My name is Ann, last name Curry and I’m checking in for the event”. So so humble! And just as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside.
Speaking from experience, I have met journalists whose ego sizes can rival those of doctors. It’s mad!!
You mean surgeons😳😬…
NBC executives want Megyn Kelly to lure the FOX audience to them. They have no interest in the news, or doing what’s right. NBC also refuses to release the tapes of Celebrity Apprentice, showing Trump being his sexist, racist self. And they refused to allow Ronan Farrow to run his story about Weinstein on their network. Not to mention Matt Lauer… Much evil afoot there.
NBC sucks and I hope they are losing money over their Megyn investment. It was so inappropriate of her to make the news about her. Good luck booking guests from here on out.
I like the term “fail up” used by an earlier commentator. That’s exactly the phrase for Trump, too!
Is Megyn Kelly even a journalist? I mean, did she go to school and got a degree or is she just called that because she’s made a career in TV?
Either way, she’s never acted like a journalist. Sitting in a show giving your opinions and asking questions is not being a journalist. She’s a TV character, a bad one at that, and the way her show and career are formed make her be the central person in any interview. As a journalist, I have to agree with Ann Curry, that will always make me cringe but I don’t think Kelly would ever let the news speak for themselves, she needs to be the protagonist.
I love Ann Curry. That being said, I think she wanted to say journalists should be impartial and discreet/low-key, right?
Could be, but I don’t think that means she didn’t also mean “humble,” too. It’s a good quality in that profession.
I’m pissed that Trump denigrates journalists the way he does and how that disdain has trickled down to the masses who cry “fake news” anytime they don’t like something.
The real journalists I know are amazingly hard workers, committed to fairness and justice and accuracy. For him to just casually suggest otherwise has been one of the most damaging things he has done to this country.
Megan has a LOT of nerve bringing that up after someone Michael Jacksoned her nose.