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Megyn Kelly Speaks Out Against Bill O'Reilly: Sincere or Opportunistic (Or Both)?

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | October 23, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | October 23, 2017 |


Something that often gets under my skin — and you people in the comments, bless, do this more than anyone (no offense) — is that when someone finally sees the light where it concerns sexual harassment, or Trump, or whatever, you’re all like, “Too little, too late!”

I get it! I do! But I’m usually just so relieved that they’ve come around to the right side on an issue that I can’t bring myself to hold their past against them too much (so long as I believe they are being genuine in their reversal). I’m a very forgiving person, perhaps to my detriment.

With my forgiving nature as context, where it concerns Megyn Kelly’s terrific speech this morning on the Today show speaking out against Bill O’Reilly, all I can think is: “Too little, too late.”

Where was that speech last July when Gretchen Carlson spoke up? Where was that speech when — as Kelly concedes herself in the clip above — Bill O’Reilly was attacking his accusers? Where was this speech when it would have made the most difference for all the women at Fox News who have been harassed and assaulted for the last decade?

Granted, Kelly didn’t defend Ailes or O’Reilly at the time, but she didn’t admonish them, either. Aside from O’Reilly, she was the most powerful person on the network at the time. She had no problem engaging in a feud with Sean Hannity, so why didn’t she come to the defense of so many of her female co-workers?

Look: No one has any obligation to speak out about their experiences, and I am certainly not suggesting that Kelly had any such obligation to do so. But she could have stuck up for her colleagues, especially when she knew that their accusations were true. She could have provided some moral support. Instead of being largely silent, she could have simply said, “I believe them.” That’s all it would have taken.

Or maybe she shouldn’t have. Megyn Kelly is her own person, and at the time, she was trying to get a new contract with Fox or another network, and maybe she didn’t want to rock the boat. She was looking out for herself, and I get that. But after looking out for herself for months and months and months, it’s hard not to notice that this speech criticizing Bill O’Reilly comes after weeks of falling ratings, and that it comes at a time when Megyn Kelly needs the positive attention the most.

Is that a coincidence? Or was this genuinely the first opportunity Megyn Kelly had to speak out against Bill O’Reilly?

I hate feeling so cynical about this, but as Kayleigh points out, “it’s good she’s speaking up but the woman who had Mark Fuhrmann as her preferred guest on police brutality issues has so little moral high-ground for anyone to take her 100% sincerely.”

Or, as TK says, “Hey before we start singing Megyn Kelly’s praises, let’s not forget that years of being a racist, homophobic shitwad are not erased just because she suddenly is speaking out about Bill O’Reilly. She is still, in her heart of hearts, a fucking awful person.”

I guess that’s where I’m at. I really, really like to believe in the best intentions of people, but the timing of this? It feels opportunistic.