Megyn Kelly Finally Reveals Why She Was Ousted At NBC

Former NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly finally disclosed the circumstances surrounding her controversial exit from the network. Kelly, who had been at the center of a media storm following her departure, pinpointed a significant disagreement over the network’s handling of investigative reporting on Harvey Weinstein as the catalyst for her ousting.

Speaking openly about the events that led to her dismissal, Kelly recounted an instance where she challenged a memo issued by Andy Lack, then-chairman of NBC News, which denied the network had sufficient evidence to proceed with a story on Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul accused of numerous sexual misconduct allegations.

“[I] went on the airwaves one day and I did not criticize my boss, but I did put the lie to a memo he had put out claiming NBC did not have the reporting on Harvey Weinstein. And that’s why they spiked Ronan Farrow’s devastating report on Harvey,” Kelly explained.

“Remember, they had it in hand and the reporting in the news was that they spiked it because Harvey had threatened them over Matt Lauer,” Kelly said. “NBC News defended itself by saying, ‘We didn’t have it. We never had anybody go on the record with the claims against Harvey.’ And I had my hands on a script showing that they did.”

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The act of journalistic integrity, according to Kelly, marked the beginning of the end of her tenure at NBC. “Totally coincidentally, three weeks later I lost my show,” she stated, linking her departure not to the publicly cited “comment about Halloween costumes” but to her decision to challenge the network’s narrative. The comment, made during a discussion on her show about the appropriateness of certain Halloween costumes, had been widely criticized and was initially thought to be the reason for her show’s cancellation.

NBC faced criticism for its handling of the Harvey Weinstein story. Ronan Farrow, a journalist who was working for NBC at the time, had been investigating Weinstein, a Hollywood producer, for allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

Farrow eventually left NBC and published his findings in The New Yorker in October 2017, after NBC had decided not to air his story. The decision led to significant scrutiny and questions about whether NBC had acted to protect Weinstein or had failed to support the story due to concerns about its content or sources. NBC defended its decision by stating that the story, as presented to them, did not meet their journalistic standards.

Kelly was later let go from NBC in October 2018. The network’s decision to end her show, “Megyn Kelly Today,” came after she made remarks about blackface costumes during a panel discussion on her program. Despite her public apology, NBC announced the cancellation of her show, and negotiations for her departure from the network commenced shortly thereafter.

Kelly’s account sheds light on a deeper issue within NBC News at the time: a struggle over the suppression of investigative journalism and the protection of powerful figures.