Megyn Kelly blasts Jimmy Kimmel's return, dredges up controversies from ABC star’s past

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Former Fox star Megyn Kelly went scorched earth on Jimmy Kimmel after the late-night host returned to ABC following his suspension.

Some conservatives had been pushing for ABC to reinstate Kimmel, arguing the famously liberal comedian deserved his free speech. But Kelly highlighted that when she faced her own controversy, Kimmel didn’t return the favor.

Kelly, who lost her NBC morning show in 2018 after controversial on-air remarks about blackface Halloween costumes, reminded fans that Kimmel had once faced backlash for similar sketches.

“Remember when I was cancelled & held back tears on the air & Kimmel stood up for me, saying ‘All she did was ask a Q about blackface Halloween costumes, whereas I, Jimmy, have actually worn blackface many times & still have a show! This is wrong!’” Kelly wrote on Wednesday in a sarcastic post on X. “Me neither. F him & his self-pity,” she added.

Jimmy Kimmel’s blackface moment

Kimmel has faced criticism for sketches from Comedy Central’s 'The Man Show' (1999–2003), where he donned blackface to impersonate Oprah Winfrey and NBA star Karl Malone.

In 2020, a resurfaced clip showed him in full-body black makeup and a basketball uniform, using an exaggerated dialect while spoofing Malone.

The outrage was swift. Kimmel put out a mea culpa weeks later.

“There is nothing more important to me than your respect, and I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke," he said.

He admitted the blackface bits were “embarrassing” but said he stayed quiet at first because he thought it would be “celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us.”

“I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last 20-plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show,” Kimmel said. “I know that this will not be the last I hear of this and that it will be used again to try to quiet me.”

When Megyn Kelly was axed by NBC

Kelly knows what it’s like to be burned by the same fire. In 2018, she was axed from NBC after defending blackface Halloween costumes on-air.

“But what is racist?” she asked during Megyn Kelly Today. “Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”

After facing backlash, she quickly apologized to NBC staffers the same day and delivered a teary apology on-air the next. But the damage was done and her show was promptly canceled.

What led to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

The Kimmel drama started last week when the late-night host was benched “indefinitely” by ABC for comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder.

In his monologue, Kimmel accused right-wingers of "scoring political points" from the killing. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," he snarked.

But the very next day, court documents revealed that Tyler Robinson’s mother told investigators her son “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left.”

Regardless, Kimmel skipped any apology for his remarks when he returned to 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

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