Megyn Kelly is done at NBC and no one can believe she left with $69 million
For most employable humans on this planet, saying racist things in public would be grounds for immediate termination with no pay. Megyn Kelly isn't most people.
Almost three months and $69 million later, the disgraced TV host who got suspended for her thoughtless on-air remarks about blackface in late 2018, is no longer an employee of NBC. The dollar amount represents the total Kelly stood to earn from her three-year contract, had she stuck around for all of it.
In other words: NBC bought Kelly out of her contract. Megyn Kelly Today launched in Sept. 2017, so she didn't even make it halfway through her three-year commitment before the network decided it was wiser to just fork over $69 million and show her the door immediately.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes via an unnamed source, Kelly's contract didn't even include a non-compete clause that would prevent her from walking right into another job.
Her NBC job has been in limbo since Oct. 2018. At the time, the network pulled her off the air after Kelly defended the use of blackface when it's part of a Halloween costume. Her remarks prompted an immediate outcry that led to Kelly's suspension and eventual removal from Today.
(There isn't any time or occasion in the 21st century that makes blackface OK for white people, to be clear. Not a single one.)
Kelly's exit from NBC was greeted on social media with a mix of celebration and critical barbs directed at the network. Most seem to agree that she needed to go, but there's a great deal of puzzlement over the decision to hire her in the first place. Many predicted when the former Fox News pundit was brought in that Kelly's tenure at NBC would end in disgrace. And hey, here we are.
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Sometimes the peanut gallery has a point. Maybe NBC should have read the room a little better back when hiring Kelly was only a possibility.
Topics NBC
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
