NBC host Megyn Kelly has set off yet another firestorm.
During a Tuesday morning segment about Halloween costumes, Kelly wondered why wearing blackface on Halloween is so frowned upon. "You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface," she said. "Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as a character."
She cited the time that a Real Housewives of New York City star faced criticism for donning blackface to dress as Diana Ross for Halloween. Kelly seemed stunned that anyone would consider this racist, arguing that it should be acceptable because "she wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don't know how that got racist on Halloween."
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All three of Kelly's guests seemed to disagree, with one arguing that the Diana Ross costume she described actually "sounds a little racist to me." Kelly didn't concede. "I can't keep up with the number of people we're offending just by being, like, normal people," she said, wrapping up the segment.
Kelly's take on this issue was poorly received among many viewers. Television host and activist Padma Lakshmi responded to Kelly's comments on Twitter. "I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018," wrote Lakshmi. "You have a responsibility to educate yourself on social issues." Watch the segment below. Brendan Morrow
Update 3:50 p.m. ET: Megyn Kelly has now apologized and retracted her comments in an email to colleagues, saying that "listening carefully to other points of view" has caused her to change her opinion, per The Hollywood Reporter. "I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry," she adds.
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