From Fox’s Fiery Star to NBC’s Fallen Idol: Kelly’s Scandals Resurface as Epstein Remarks Ignite Fresh Fury
NEW YORK – Megyn Kelly, the razor-sharp journalist once crowned America’s most influential news host, has seen her glittering career implode twice over—at Fox News in 2017 and NBC in 2018—in a saga of ambition, controversy, and unforgivable missteps that still poisons the industry. But now, in November 2025, as Kelly’s SiriusXM podcast spirals into another firestorm over Jeffrey Epstein, insiders are peeling back the curtain on the “irreparable fallout” at NBC that nearly torpedoed a colleague’s career. “What Megyn did will never be forgiven,” one former NBC producer told Variety exclusively. “The truth is finally coming out—and it’s uglier than anyone imagined.”
Kelly’s Fox exit was a spectacle: after 12 years anchoring The Kelly File—a primetime juggernaut averaging 2.5 million viewers—she bolted in January 2017 amid the network’s sexual harassment reckoning. Sources say the tipping point was Bill O’Reilly’s vicious on-air attack after Kelly detailed her own harassment by Roger Ailes in her memoir Settle for More. “O’Reilly called her a traitor; it was the last straw in a snake pit,” a Fox veteran recalled. Kelly cited Trump’s relentless attacks—“blood coming out of her wherever”—and a craving for family time with her three young kids as catalysts, but whispers of burnout in the “toxic primetime” were louder. She inked a $69 million, three-year NBC deal, poised to conquer mornings with Megyn Kelly Today. Fox mourned publicly, but privately seethed—Rupert Murdoch’s team viewed her as disloyal.
NBC’s honeymoon soured fast. Ratings tanked—down 400,000 viewers year-over-year—and controversies piled up: a disastrous Alex Jones interview, Putin softball, and whispers of diva demands alienating staff. The kill shot? October 23, 2018’s Halloween segment, where Kelly defended blackface: “When I was a kid, that was OK… as long as you were dressing up like a character.” The backlash was biblical—Al Roker schooled her on minstrel show history; #FireMegyn trended for days. Kelly’s tearful apology (“I was wrong”) fell flat; she skipped two shows, fired her agent, and watched her $23 million gig evaporate. NBC axed Megyn Kelly Today on October 26, replacing her with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. But the untold bombshell? Kelly’s “behind-the-scenes sabotage,” per sources: she allegedly leaked damaging emails about a rival producer—nearly costing them their job amid the chaos—to deflect heat. “Megyn played dirty to save herself,” the colleague, now at CNN, fumed. “It was vicious—and it haunts NBC to this day.”
Around Kelly’s Fox departure, another figure wasn’t so lucky: Gretchen Carlson, whose Ailes lawsuit toppled the empire but exiled her from broadcast TV, her career “haunted” by retaliation whispers. “Megyn knew the score but stayed silent too long,” a mutual source said.
Fast-forward to 2025: Kelly’s Epstein podcast rant—“He wasn’t a pedophile… into the barely legal type, like 15-year-olds… There’s a difference between 15 and 5”—has reignited the inferno. Citing an “insider close to the case,” she downplayed his crimes amid fresh email dumps implicating Trump. Backlash is brutal: “Career-ending,” tweets strategist Ally Sammarco; “Diet pedophilia,” mocks The Daily Show. Kelly doubled down Thursday, resenting “Johnny-come-latelies” in the story. X erupts with clips of her 2018 self decrying underage consent.
SiriusXM sources say advertisers are fleeing; her 3.6 million YouTube subs waver. “Justice knocking,” one ex-colleague gloated. From Fox fallout to NBC implosion—and now this—Kelly’s empire crumbles. Viewers brace: more revelations loom, and forgiveness? Unlikely. As one X post quips: “Megyn’s goalposts move faster than Epstein’s jets.”
