Thats the insane part. They were having a discussion. Then you have Rivers at the end being a complete hypocrite: "By the way if she (Luann de Lesseps) wanted to look like Diana Ross, she should have dressed as Michael Jackson" followed up with every one laughing.
If she were popular with a reasonable contract she wouldn't be out - but they were looking for a reason to fire her. The whole blackface debate has become ridiculous - Billy Crystal doing Sammy is not blackface.
If you don't understand why what she said was so unacceptable, you are truly ignorant and tone deaf to the past and what African Americans go through. That doesn't make you a racist, it just makes you out of touch and in a bubble. This was not about being PC. This is about something worse than saying the N-word. They are few things truly more deeply hurtful than blackface which was done to basically say African Americans are stupid and useless. Let me give you an analogy "What's wrong with someone dressing up as a rapist who just got done committing the act?" "What's wrong with someone dressing up as the burning twin towers at a NYC Halloween party?" "What's wrong with someone dressing up an SS guard holding up a used canister of gas?" All of these are the equivalent of "What's wrong with someone dressing up in blackface?" Or maybe the equivalent to you is someone taking a dump on the American flag and pissing on it. Seems that is something that would offend you guys considering someone kneeling to the flag is such a heinous sin. And you cry about the left being PC
I understand it. It doesn’t mean that the conversation is completely off limits. Was the Michael Jackson joke off limits to you as well? And blackface is different than what Kelly seemed to try to clumsily refer to.
Megyn Kelly's probably going to be laughing all the way to the bank. She'll be fine. The biggest idiot in this situation is NBC News chairman Andy Lack. It was obvious from day one that Megyn was a bad culture fit at NBC (in terms of both staff and audience), a terrible choice for a morning talk show, and simply wasn't going to work out there. Literally trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. A lot of people were pissed that the likable Tamron Hall was more-or-less "pushed aside" to make room for Megyn. And then there's Lack's poor handling of the Matt Lauer situation, Ronan Farrow / Weinstein, etc. Kelly and NBC were apparently already in talks to end her show before the blackface comment, since the ratings sucked. The insensitive & offensive blackface comment simply accelerated the timetable. Like others in this thread said, NBC was looking for a reason to get rid of her. I watched the entire Halloween segment and Megyn may have been OK had she just left off the cringeworthy Diana Ross / blackface bit. Just don't go there, period. Also, I don't buy the "ignorance" claim...back in 2016 she had a segment with Pastor Mark Burns on her Fox News show where Burns (a nutjob btw) was saying some stupid stuff about blackface and she took him to task over it. It was clear back then that she DID understand that blackface is unacceptable. Kelly is opportunistic, but she's not dumb. I don't dislike her; I'm just disappointed with her.
Again, something you completely choose to ignore, this was a discussion. She wasn't advocating for people to go out and do this. She stated growing up, it was acceptable to darken your skin at Halloween to represent a character. Im not fragile. Im not going to rage and throw a fit if someone chooses to exercise their freedom of expression. If these sort of things put you in a rage, I would suggest seeking therapy. Nor am I going to feel bad if someone kicks their ass.
Here's the problem with Kelly and her conversation about why is blackface bad. Actually there are a couple. 1. She said it was acceptable. It may have been acceptable to her and her white family and friends, but I don't think it was acceptable to a majority of African Americans even at that time. 2. Does she want to know why it's bad? She could have used google, gone to a library, watched Bamboozled, read a book by Cornel West, etc. If she really cared enough, she would have already learned why. She could have used the segment as a coming clean moment. And pointed out that as a child she thought it was okay to don blackface if it was done as a character with no intended ill-will. She could have said that after doing some research, she now realizes that it was insensitive and ignorant, and she apologizes for not having learned about the pain and history behind the practice sooner. She could have said that she hopes people will accept her apology. So as far as a racist act, it wasn't a 10. It was more like a 4, but it was needless.
She was in fact promoting the idea that there should not be anything wrong with it. I think you should listen to the piece again. She was defending the right of people to wear blackface at Halloween bemoaning the PC Culture. So glad you are not fragile. We were so worried. Look, if you think it's ok for a Neo Nazis to walk through black neighborhoods with black effigies with nooses - then that's great you think that anyone offended by that should seek therapy. I am sure they would think you were the one in need of therapy though.
She presumably understands why many people consider “blackface” offensive historically, but she just doesn’t think it’s a good reason to ban someone from dressing up as a famous person who happens to be black when they are not trying to denigrate black people in general or they are not perpetuating a racial stereotype. No one cared when Jimmy Kimmel dressed up as Karl Malone, because it was understood that he was making fun of a particular person who happens to be black, not a race of people. Is it not possible to simultaneously recognize the ugly history behind blackface while not inhibiting the freedom of others to dress up as they please so long as they are not attempting to exploit or spread a stereotype that dehumanizes black people? And should it really be a fireable offense to raise such a question on a show dealing with the discussion of cultural issues? Personally, I don’t think so (and I am by no means a fan of this woman).
If you took the time to listen to her quote, she specifically said: As a kid. At Halloween. As a Character. She also acknowledged just before that statement that putting on makeup to mock another race is wrong. Essentially if a kid at Halloween wanted to put on a little dark makeup, put a beard on, wear a #13 jersey and carry a orange ball, that was acceptable. Naturally you ignore Rivers racist remark about Michael Jackson.
You are trying to spin things to defend her by reinterpreting what she said. She was talking about blackface. Not dressing up as a black man, but blackface. Which is applying black make-up to your face with a ring around your mouth to make fun of African Americans as having big fat lips, really dark skin, and being stupid. That's the purpose of blackface and it's history. That is the only purpose of blackface. There is no character with blackface. The topic of discussion is not Rivers or MJ. It's Kelly and blackface. Stop trying to change the topic to deflect.
