After a week plagued by controversy, Megyn Kelly‘s daytime talk show Megyn Kelly Today has been cancelled, just over a year after its debut, NBC news announced Friday. Kelly, meanwhile, is currently negotiating her exit from NBC.
“ Megyn Kelly Today is not returning,” an NBC News rep confirmed. “Next week, the 9 am hour will be hosted by other Today co-anchors.”
NBC hired Kelly away from Fox News in January 2017, handing her a reported three-year, $69 million contract to join the NBC News team and host Megyn Kelly Today , among other contributions. The former Fox News anchor took over the cherished post- Today time slot from Tamron Hall and Al Roker’s third hour of Today in September of that year.
But Megyn Kelly Today stumbled from the start, with Kelly making a number of embarrassing on-air gaffes during her first week. She again came under fire this week for not understanding why dressing in blackface for Halloween was offensive. Kelly later apologized, saying in an internal NBC email that “I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.” She also offered an apology on-air, but the mistake seemed to be the last straw that led to her departure.
The ratings weren’t great, either: Megyn Kelly Today was regularly topped by rival Live! With Kelly and Ryan , and couldn’t even match the ratings of Hall and Roker’s third Today hour. Kelly’s nighttime news magazine Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly was a misfire as well, with NBC quietly pulling it off the schedule after just eight airings.
