The Megyn Kelly experiment at NBC News is officially over.
“The parties have resolved their differences, and Megyn Kelly is no longer an employee of NBC,” the network said Friday evening.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells TVNewser Kelly will be walking away with the remaining $25-30 million of a three-year, $69 million deal she signed with NBC News after leaving Fox News in January 2017.
Kelly’s first day at NBC News was May 1, 2017, and her last on-air appearance was Oct. 23, 2018 on her now-defunct morning show, Megyn Kelly Today, during which she remarked that she did not understand why the use of blackface on Halloween was inappropriate.
Her Today show colleagues -including Al Roker and Craig Melvin– were among those who criticized her remarks. Kelly issued a heartfelt apology on-air the following morning, Wednesday, Oct. 24, but apparently it was not good enough for NBC News management, and her 9 a.m. program was taken off the air, Friday, Oct. 26.
Sheinelle Jones, Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Craig Melvin, have been the core four hosts of the 9 a.m. hour since Kelly’s departure, and will continue to host the hour from Studio 1A. Ratings have been up in the hour since Kelly’s departure.
Is there any chance of Kelly heading back to Fox News, the network she called home for more than a decade? It doesn’t appear so. At least not right now. When news that her 9 a.m. show had been canceled first broke, a Fox News spokesperson told TVNewser, “We are extremely happy with our entire line-up.” This was statement echoed by Lachlan Murdoch in a conversation with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin back in November at the New York Times Dealbook Conference.
It remains to be seen where Kelly ends up next, but I seriously doubt we’ve seen the last of her in the rough and tumble American media landscape.