11 Megyn Kelly Controversies That Will Always Haunt The Journalist

Once upon a time, the stunning Megyn Kelly was a lawyer. In 2004, however, she joined Fox News, and over time she became one of the most prominent voices on the network. She had her own primetime television show where she would react to the news of the day, often in very strong, opinionated terms that won her legions of fans.

Kelly's caustic style also won her legions of critics, however. Over the course of her career, Kelly has been involved in a number of high-profile controversies that have made headlines all their own, putting her into frequent feuds with famous people that run the gamut from politicians to athletes and beyond. Sometimes, she sticks to her guns; other times, Kelly has had to apologize for saying things that went way too far. "I regret a lot of what I've said," she told Business Insider in 2017. "You're gonna be on the air several hours a week, live television, you're gonna say stupid s***. That's just the reality, you know?. So, yeah, there's a lot I'd like to go back and say differently."

The conservative mainstay has taken her particular brand of commentary from Fox News to NBC to SiriusXM to social media, drawing criticism all the way. Here are eleven controversies that will always follow Megyn Kelly. 

One of Megyn Kelly's first big brushes with controversy came in 2013 when she reacted on-air (via YouTube) to an opinion piece by writer Aisha Harris, discussing what it was like to grow up Black in a world where most Christmas decorations show Santa Claus as a white man. "By the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white... Santa is what he is...," Kelly said. She added, "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change, you know? I mean, Jesus was a white man, too."

The segment touched off a firestorm of controversy, as people around the internet mocked Kelly's insistence that the race of the magical toy-maker at the North Pole should match her own. The controversy so defined Kelly's time at Fox News, in fact, that she was asked about it years later at a Business Insider event (via YouTube). "All I can tell you is, I think the lens is a truth-teller," she said. "People who watch you day after day will see who you are, without the caricature of you that's put out there by websites and so on looming over you."

Harris too looked back on the "Santa is just white" controversy in her book "Wannabe" (via Slate). She reflected, "I was not watching live when that three-minute segment aired, because I like myself too much and that's not something I do except for the rare occasion when my work requires me to do so."

In 2015's lead-up to the Republican primary that put Donald Trump on the path to winning the White House for the first time, he participated in a debate with the other candidates for the party's nomination. Megyn Kelly was one of the moderators, and she pressed the "Celebrity Apprentice" host to answer for a long string of misogynistic comments he'd made about various women over the years. Trump didn't like that, telling CNN, "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." Many viewers took this as yet another misogynistic remark, potentially referencing Kelly having been on her period, though Trump clarified on X, formerly Twitter, that that's not what he meant. "So many 'politically correct' fools in our country," he wrote.

For a while, those comments put the president and the journalist on bad terms. By 2023, on the other hand, Kelly decided to forgive the man who would soon return to power. On an episode of her podcast "The Megyn Kelly Show" (via The Hill), she told her listeners that she and Trump had squashed their feud after meeting up at a right-wing conference. "He and I got a one on one together for the first time in years and it was, frankly, great to see him," she said. "All that nonsense between us is under the bridge."

Megyn Kelly's exit from Fox News came at a tumultuous time for the network. Alongside other on-air personalities like Gretchen Carlson, Kelly called attention to the culture of sexual harassment that ran rampant at the network, going all the way to top executive Roger Ailes. Their quest for justice was chronicled in the 2019 film "Bombshell," which depicts Kelly — as played by Charlize Theron — being forced to spin around and show off for Ailes. In a video processing her reaction to the film (via Instagram), Kelly said that really happened. "If you don't get how demeaning that is, I can't help you," she said. "In retrospect, I'd give anything if I had said, 'No.'"

When Kelly first came forward, she drew the ire of Bill O'Reilly, one of the network's biggest stars. He went on his own primetime show (via YouTube) and told her, "If somebody is paying you a wage, you owe that person or company allegiance. If you don't like what's happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave... Loyalty is good." O'Reilly himself was forced out of the network after the New York Times revealed Fox had paid out $13 million to settle complaints against the conservative firebrand. "Women everywhere are used to being dismissed, ignored or attacked when raising complaints about men in authority positions," Kelly noted (via CNN). "They stay silent so often out of fear."

After Megyn Kelly left Fox News, she was hired by NBC to host an hour of "The Today Show" that had been rebranded "Megyn Kelly Today." In her new daytime talk show's very first week, she sparked controversy after a testy exchange with Jane Fonda about plastic surgery. Sure, the "Barbarella" star has spoken about her experience going under the knife plenty of times before. When she was unexpectedly confronted by Kelly live on air, however, she looked unhappy.

"You admit you've had work done, which I think is to your credit, but, but you look amazing," Kelly told the actor (via YouTube). "Do, do you, have you, why did you say, I read that you said, you felt, you're not proud to admit that you've had work done, why not?" Fonda looked baffled by the question, asking, "We really want to talk about that?" For the record, there is one cosmetic procedure Fonda is not proud of, but she clearly wasn't expecting to discuss it with Kelly. 

A few months later, Fonda addressed the incident in an interview with Variety. She explained that she wasn't upset, just surprised. "It was so inappropriate," Fonda said. "It showed that she's not that good an interviewer." Kelly took issue with that, hitting back at the "80 For Brady" star on her show. "I have no regrets about that question," she said (via YouTube). "Nor am I in the market for a lesson from Jane Fonda on what is and is not appropriate."

Megyn Kelly's feud with Jane Fonda wasn't the only controversy she attracted while working for NBC. Kelly also chose to interview conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, then embroiled in a high-profile scandal involving his insistence that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting had been faked  and that the children who died didn't exist. That was, of course, patently offensive to many viewers, who took issue with Kelly giving Jones a platform on television to discuss his views.

Viewers weren't the only ones offended, though; advertisers canceled their planned ad buys, and the interview even cost the former Fox News host a gig. Kelly had been set to host a gala put on by Sandy Hook Promise, a gun violence prevention organization, but after she chose to interview Jones, they asked her not to come. "Sandy Hook Promise cannot support the decision by Megyn or NBC to give any form of voice or platform to Alex Jones and have asked Megyn Kelly to step down as our Promise Champion Gala host," co-founder Nicole Hockley said on their website. 

When the interview actually aired, Kelly acknowledged the furor surrounding the segment. "Some thought we shouldn't broadcast this interview because his baseless allegations aren't just offensive, they're dangerous," she said (via Rolling Stone). This, of course, angered Jones, who released secretly-recorded audio of Kelly promising to make the interview "fun." In other words, no one won.

In 2018, Megyn Kelly found herself at the center of one of her biggest controversies to date. In a discussion on "Megyn Kelly Today" about the use of blackface in Halloween costumes, Kelly claimed not to understand what the big deal is. "What is racist?" she asked (via YouTube). "Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character." She went on to discuss an incident on "The Real Housewives of New York City," which saw Luann de Lesseps dress in blackface to portray Diana Ross. "I don't know how that got racist on Halloween," Kelly said.

The segment kicked off a furor; after all, blackface has a long history of being used to mock, marginalize, and silence Black people. The next day, Kelly apologized on air for her comments (via YouTube), claiming to have just heard about the action's racist historical context. "I learned that given the history of blackface being used in awful ways by racists in this country, it is not okay for that to be part of any costume, Halloween or otherwise," she said. The apology didn't fix things; NBC Chairman Andy Lack told the company, "I condemn those remarks..." Soon after, Kelly's show was taken off the air, though she was paid the remainder of her $69 million contract. 

After she was no longer on Fox News or NBC, Megyn Kelly could be found railing against the left on her Sirius XM show, "The Megyn Kelly Show," which was also released as a podcast. That platform is where, for example, she went on a tear against former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who was essentially exiled from the league for pointing out the racism that still exists in American society.

When Netflix released a docuseries called "Colin in Black and White," Kelly took the opportunity to tear into the football player. She insisted (via YouTube) that it's actually racist to talk about racism as he has done, complaining, "He's insane. This is a racist guy. He really is a racist guy and he hates our country. He hates America." Kelly took particular umbrage with Kaepernick's comparison of the NFL draft to a slave auction, denying that there was any similarity between the two disparate events that put Black bodies up for sale. "I can't believe somebody at Netflix didn't get up and walk their a**es out over this bulls*** propaganda about our country, the NFL, white people in general," she said. "This is outrageous." Kaepernick does not seem to have responded to Kelly's invective, which is perhaps the best response of all.

Another day, another Megyn Kelly incident where she lashed out at someone for speaking about the concept of racism. In this case, the target of her ire was basketball star Caitlin Clark, who was named Athlete of the Year by TIME. In the honor's corresponding profile, Clark acknowledged the discourse that had followed her into the league, including discussions about the media coverage she received as opposed to Black stars like Angel Reese. "I want to say I've earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege," Clark said. She explained that the WNBA depended on Black women, but they didn't always get the credit. "I have to continue to try to change that," she said. "The more we can elevate Black women, that's going to be a beautiful thing."

That didn't sit well with Kelly, who worked herself up on "The Megyn Kelly Show" into a shout as she spoke about Clark's acknowledgment of Black basketball players. "Hello, you don't own the league! Blacks don't own the league!" she scowled. Addressing Clark, she said, "You'll bend the knee, and you'll apologize for being white, and you'll suck up to the Black women who built this league.." In an on-stage conversation for TIME, Clark responded to Kelly's criticism. She said, "One of my best skills is just blocking things out."

Megyn Kelly has a lot of opinions about athletes, as we've learned, and that extends to tennis, too. In 2021, tennis superstar Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open, citing the need to protect her mental health. What Osaka has said about mental health is that she'd faced depression and anxiety, which meant she needed a break from sitting for press conferences and answering a series of rapid-fire questions with cameras in her face. When she missed a press conference at the Open, she was fined, and she chose to withdraw.

That wasn't okay with Kelly, who lashed out on social media. After all, she noted, Osaka had posed on the covers of magazines before. "She is apparently arguing that she shot her many covers [before] publicly claiming she was too socially anxious to deal [with] press," Kelly wrote on X. "Truth is she just doesn't like Qs she can't control. Admit it." In an essay for TIME about the backlash, Osaka explained, "This was never about the press, but rather the traditional format of the press conference. I'll say it again for those at the back: I love the press; I do not love all press conferences." She added, "Michael Phelps told me that by speaking up I may have saved a life. If that's true, then it was all worth it."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

In 2025, Netflix announced a new adaptation of "Little House on the Prairie." The classic show was based on books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and it follows a family on the frontier as they confront changing American society. Megyn Kelly was preemptively incensed by the news, taking the opportunity to lash out at the streamer before a single second of footage had been shot, just in case. "if you wokeify Little House on the Prairie," she wrote on X, "I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project."

That didn't sit well with Melissa Gilbert, star of the original "Little House on the Prairie" series. She took to Instagram to point out that Kelly may want to take another look at the show. "TV doesn't get too much more 'woke' than we did," Gilbert pointed out. "We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other 'woke' topic you can think of."

On "The View" Gilbert clarified that she hadn't intended to comment on the new show at all, but she couldn't let Kelly's slander stand. She pointed out that the show was reflecting the 1970s. "[Creator Michael Landon] was telling the stories of veterans coming home from Vietnam," she said. "He was telling the stories of racism and chauvinism and antisemitism and nativism."

In 2023, part of Dylan Mulvaney's complete evolution involved receiving a promo box from Bud Light that included a can of beer with her face on it. She made a TikTok video to show it off, somehow infuriating people across the country, who viewed Bud Light's nod to the social media superstar as part of an ongoing culture war. Donald Trump chimed in, writing on Truth Social, "The Bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions..." Even "Bawitdaba" singer Kid Rock shared a video on YouTube about the controversy, spraying bullets into cases of beer and proclaiming, "F*** Bud Light." Boycotts ensued, and Mulvaney received death threats.

Never one to pass up an opportunity for outrage, Megyn Kelly joined in. In a transphobic tirade on "The Megyn Kelly Show" (via Instagram), she said, "Dylan parodies us. Dylan demeans us... This Dylan character is humiliating womankind." In posts on X, Kelly called Mulvaney a man and hurled plenty of other insults. 

Mulvaney opened up about the frightening situation to Forbes. She pointed out that the company never reached out amid the furor, telling the outlet, "If you're going to ask us to capitalize on our vulnerabilities and our traumas, at least have our backs when the going gets tough." She added, "Hiring trans people should not be political, and the people making it out to be — they're bigots. And we should not let them win."