Latest news with #WeAreNotforSale
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Megyn Kelly Insists She's 'Still a Journalist' While Explaining Endorsement of Donald Trump
Former network news anchor Megyn Kelly defended her on-stage endorsement of President Donald Trump during his re-election campaign and insisted that she is still a journalist but now exists in a 'new world' of podcasting where journalistic ethics don't apply in an interview in the New York Times on Monday. Kelly, 54, has been hosting a news, opinion and commentary podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, since 2020 after a career in law and journalism that led her to massive success as a Fox News anchor with a weeknight news show, The Kelly File. But the former TV news personality's accusations against former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes and a hard-hitting question for Donald Trump at a 2016 election cycle debate led to her exit from the conservative outlet and to NBC News, where she signed a lucrative contract, but famously lost the gig after multiple on-air snafus. More from The Hollywood Reporter The White House PR Battle With White House Correspondents Nears a Boiling Point John Oliver Mocks Trump Administration for Adding Atlantic Editor to Military Ops Group Chat: "Another Week of Chaos" Michael Bublé Takes Dig at Donald Trump Over Canada at Juno Awards: "We Are Not for Sale" The popular podcaster candidly spoke about her time with the conservative news behemoth and feelings about some of her colleagues there, her ever-evolving relationship with Trump, and how she is quickly reacting to the rapid morphing of media and journalism in a conversation with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of the Times' The Interview podcast. 'There's no question that I owned my bias on Trump and crossed a line that I had never crossed before, and never would have crossed when I was still straight news, ever,' Kelly told the Times when asked about her 2024 Election Day eve on-stage endorsement of Trump, her former foe. 'It's just this weird new hybrid lane I'm in that even made it a possibility in my mind, that I even allowed myself to consider saying yes to the invitation, and it was another before-and-after moment — because for sure, you're crossing a line, but I had crossed it prior to then.' That would be when Kelly announced on her show in April that in 2020, she had voted for Donald Trump and told her listeners that Biden's recently announced Title IX revisions enraged her, making it impossible to vote for him. Her mended, for now, adversarial relationship with Trump, which she discusses at length with the Times, began with a question at a 2016 debate against Hillary Clinton, where Kelly asked him to explain why he's called women 'fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals' — a query he chastised her for asking. His wrath followed, as did that of his growing MAGA nation followers and the majority of people at her job at Fox News — who quickly turned on her, she said. 'It was such an annoying nine months,' the former TV host recalled. 'I did not want to take an armed guard to Disney World. I did not want this to go on and on. I knew it wasn't good for me as a journalist, as a Fox News host or as a person to have this level of acrimony constantly aimed at me, and I desperately wanted him to just lay off.' Kelly also explains that her highly-publicized exit from Fox News was less about Trump and more about her perceived portrayal of Ailes, whom she joined former network host Gretchen Carlson in accusing of sexual harassment as the latter was suing the chairman. In the revealing interview, Kelly's attitude towards the late Fox chairman seems to have softened, but she is perfectly candid in her assessment of Carlson. 'I didn't like Gretchen Carlson, who was kind of looking for help, in a way,' Kelly explained. 'The whole question was: Can he be this thing who she has alleged he is? And I was really not inclined to help her and stick a knife in him.' In 2016, after being advanced upon by Ailes in her early days at the network, Kelly complained to a superior about him; nothing came of it, and eventually, she and Ailes returned to a working relationship. Later that year, when Carlson went public with her claims against Ailes, Kelly says she and meteorologist Janice Dean found other women who had been harassed at Fox News. Kelly eventually called Lachlan Murdoch, requesting an outside investigation. Her name was ultimately leaked to the press, along with her accusations, which prompted Zann to confide in her about her experience. She spoke to the Times about her decision to call Murdoch, who did launch a probe into Ailes' workplace conduct. 'I was under a lot of pressure from Roger's team, and Roger and his wife, to come out and say he's not this thing, and he's incapable of being this thing, which is what everyone was saying,' she said. 'And I knew I did not have it in me to lie. The real question was whether I should just stay silent and keep it to myself.' The majority of the Fox News staff turned on Kelly, she revealed, after she came out with allegations against Ailes. The influential conservative left his position in July 2016 after a reported ultimatum from the Muroch family, resigning in disgrace amid accusations of sexually harassing female Fox employees, including Carlson, Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros, another on-air host; he died after a subdural hematoma that was aggravated by his hemophilia. Following her Fox exit, Kelly briefly joined NBC News in a triple role of TODAY host, correspondent for special events and host of a Sunday night newsmagazine show, reportedly for a salary of between $15 million and $20 million per year. But an offhand comment indicating her acceptance of blackface led to her demise shortly after she joined the show, proving that perhaps a traditional network — or maybe television news — wasn't for her. In the interview, she criticized network television news as 'dying' and a 'dinosaur' and touted the right-wing podsphere as a place where she feels very comfortable. In fact, Kelly's successful show has now led her to launch her own podcasting network. 'I'm still a journalist,' the host insisted. 'I break news all the time, and when I sit with Trump or anyone else in the administration, I ask tough questions … Look, it's a tough job to do. You have to be able to hit the people you admire, and I do. Right before the election. I ripped on Trump's Madison Square Garden rally as too bro-tastic and got specific about why. 'If you haven't sold your soul, you have to be willing to criticize the people you admire on your, quote, side, and my owning my bias by going out there onstage with Donald Trump and saying, 'I'm voting for him, and you should, too,' is a bonus when it comes to my credibility,' she said. 'Now everyone has zero doubt about where I stand, and they can filter everything I say through the appropriate lens.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2024: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo and More
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The White House PR Battle With White House Correspondents Nears a Boiling Point
The White House and the correspondents that cover it are increasingly at odds, as escalating battles over fairness, access, editorial decisions and a rapidly-changing media ecosystem are spilling into public view. The latest gambit? A White House takeover of the seating assignments in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. More from The Hollywood Reporter John Oliver Mocks Trump Administration for Adding Atlantic Editor to Military Ops Group Chat: "Another Week of Chaos" Michael Bublé Takes Dig at Donald Trump Over Canada at Juno Awards: "We Are Not for Sale" White House Correspondents' Association Cancels Amber Ruffin Performance at Annual Gala Dinner The White House is preparing to take control of the seating assignments in the room, and the White House Correspondents' Association, which represents the journalists that cover the President and his administration, is preparing to push back. The WHCA board sent its members a note Monday, telling them what it was planning to do after Axios reported Sunday that the White House was preparing a 'fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.' While the details are not known, it is possible that some news organizations that have seats could be moved toward the back rows, or not have any guaranteed seats at all, while outlets that are friendlier could receive better treatment. The WHCA says that it reached out to the White House Sunday after the report came out. 'The White House should abandon this wrong-headed effort and show the American people they're not afraid to explain their policies and field questions from an independent media free from government control,' the WHCA told its members Monday. 'But if the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system through which the independent press organizes itself, so that it is easier to exact punishment on outlets over their coverage.' The organization noted that the White House had already banished the Associated Press from covering many events because the AP Style Guide still uses the language 'Gulf of Mexico' rather than 'Gulf of America.' It was a move that seemed to ignite a public war of words between the administration and the WHCA, with the AP now suing in court over the matter, and the WHCA filing an amicus brief in support of the AP. The WHCA may be best known to the public for its annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, which traditionally is attended by the President, and with a popular entertainer (usually a comedian) giving a performance. During his first term President Trump opted not to attend, and reports indicated that he was not planning to attend this year's dinner, which will be held next Month. The WHCA told its members on March 29 that it had canceled a planned performance by comedian Amber Ruffin at its annual dinner, after members of the White House press team amplified comments she made on a podcast in which she referred to members of the administration as 'kind of a bunch of murderers.' 'At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,' WHCA president Eugene Daniels wrote in a note to WHCA members. The WHCA also pushed back on the claim that the changes are meant to elevate digital journalists that are more reflective of the modern media ecosystem. 'Our organization has always been and will always be open to professional outlets covering the White House, and we've evolved over more than a century to reflect the changes in our press corps,' the WHCA wrote. 'The most obvious end result of this reported plan is the punishment, not elevation, of journalists.' That being said, there is no question that the media ecosystem writ large has been going through a massive transformation, with creators, podcasters and other commentators finding significant audiences on new media platforms. The White House understandably wants to elevate many of those voices (many of which are pro-Trump), while the WHCA understandably wants to give priority to journalists that cover the administration day in and day out priority. But for a White House obsessed with dealmaking, Axios raised another possibility that could deescalate things: A WHCA member reportedly brought up the possibility of having the White House Press Secretary always serve as the organization's president. it was an idea, however, that the WHCA pushed back on. 'We'll also add the notion of having the White House press secretary preside over an independent organization of journalists who are negotiating access with the administration is ridiculous,' the board wrote. 'No board member or official representative of the WHCA has ever put forward such a non-starter suggestion.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2024: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo and More
