A Look Back At The Drama Between NBC News Anchor Tamron Hall And Megyn Kelly
Anyone who keeps up with America's biggest news networks will know that at one point in 2017 all hell broke loose at NBC. Acclaimed news anchor turned talk show host Tamron Hall made headlines when she packed her bags and left after it was announced that former Fox News host Megyn Kelly had been appointed in her 9 a.m. slot on the "Today" show. Prior to Hall's sudden departure, she was reportedly getting NBC the numbers it craved. As a source dished to People at the time, "She received an email [from an exec] congratulating the team for being number one. Then all of a sudden, it was like it vanished: Megyn Kelly is coming onboard, and who's going to have to move? Tamron. That's who."
Insiders also divulged that Hall, who underwent a stunning transformation during her time at NBC, was not only hurt by what she saw as a betrayal, but angered by the decision to essentially replace her with Kelly. The Daily Mail reported that the controversial TV personality was also offered a contract worth 20 times more than what Hall was earning from the network. As a result, "She wasn't going to settle for sitting on the sidelines. She basically said thank you, but no thank you," as Hall's friend, Mara Brock Akil, clarified to People. Hall, who has notably endured plenty of tragedy in her life, understandably described the circumstances of her departure from NBC as "a gut punch, per USA Today.
The talk show host later informed People that walking away from the job she loved left Hall feeling like she "didn't have anything to wake up to." Kelly, meanwhile, was on borrowed time at the network, but no one knew that just yet.
Hall had no hard feelings about Kelly following her NBC exit
Megyn Kelly might have got a lucrative contract with NBC, including landing Tamron Hall's coveted 9 a.m. slot, but the outspoken news anchor soon put her foot in her mouth when she appeared to condone the wearing of blackface costumes by white folks in Halloween 2018. Prior to this massive slip-up, Kelly had already lost the network's 9 a.m. slot around 400,000 viewers. "Megyn's success or not, I already knew they made the wrong choice when I [walked out] the door [...] So I would never measure myself by her success or perceived lack thereof," Hall later told the Television Critics Association in 2019, per USA Today.
The former Fox News host, meanwhile, questioned "What is racist?" during the episode of her show that would also end up being Kelly's last. "Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who put on whiteface for Halloween. When I was a kid, it was OK as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character," (via NPR). Kelly apologized after the whole sordid affair, but Al Roker, Hall's former co-anchor, proclaimed that it lacked sincerity and wasn't sufficient for the hurt caused. Unsurprisingly, NBC announced in a subsequent statement, "'Megyn Kelly Today' is not returning," (via AP News).
Many thought Hall would feel satisfied that the woman who replaced her on a network she called home for years had messed up so badly. But something people might not know about Hall is that she's not exactly the vindictive sort. "I have no ill will towards Megyn [Kelly]," the talk show host, who later landed at ABC, told People (via the Daily Mail).