Megyn Kelly Is A ‘Moron’ And ‘Wannabe Barbie,’ Rosie O’Donnell Claims After ‘Today’ Host Slams Jane Fonda
Rosie O’Donnell has called out Megyn Kelly after the Today show host fired back at actress Jane Fonda on her 9 a.m. Eastern time television broadcast yesterday. The Megyn Kelly-Jane Fonda feud started in September when Fonda, 80, bristled when Kelly asked her about past plastic surgery procedures.
Fonda told Vanity Fair that she found the line of questioning stunning and threw shade on Megyn Kelly’s interviewing skills, CNN reported, although earlier this month she laughed about the incident with Netflix colleague Lily Tomlin during a separate Today show appearance with Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb.
Yesterday, Megyn Kelly went off on “Hanoi Jane” Fonda in an in-show editorial, pointing out among other things that Fonda booked the Megyn Kelly Today sit-down to promote a movie about aging and insisting that the plastic surgery question was fair game since Fonda has been very public about her enhancement procedures. She also slammed Fonda for her well-documented 1972 visit to North Vietnam where she cavorted with the Viet Cong.
“She has no business lecturing anyone on what qualifies as offensive,” Kelly declared about Jane Fonda.
Parenthetically, NBC insiders apparently knew the anti-Fonda editorial was coming and weren’t fond of it, as it were, Fox News reported.
“A well-placed NBC source tells Fox News that NBC News executives knew in advance that Kelly planned to denounce Fonda but were powerless to stop her. ‘The Today staff was appalled at Megyn’s comments about Fonda and want nothing to do with them,’ an NBC staffer told Fox News.”
Against the backdrop of the Megyn Kelly-Jane Fonda feud, Rosie O’Donnell seems to be not a member of the Megyn Kelly fan club, and she made her feelings clear on Twitter, the Wrap reported (as other users similarly did on the platform).
“Megyn Kelly is a moron – spineless wannabe barbie – she sucks and so does her show.”
Megyn Kelly is a moron – spineless wanna be barbie – she sucks and so does her show – #jane https://t.co/VjfIKOiKIv #usuckmegyn
— ROSIE (@Rosie) January 22, 2018
CNN anchor Bill Weir also chimed in on social media about the controversy. Weir claimed that Kelly should have spoken with Jane Fonda in the green room (the area in a TV studio where guests relax before going on the air) to see if she was comfortable discussing the topic on live TV. He also implied that Megyn Kelly is not a real journalist who forced pay cuts on other NBC News staffers so that the network can pay her a “ginormous” salary. Megyn Kelly reportedly earns $23 million per year.
On The View this morning, co-host Joy Behar quipped that in the original interview, Jane Fonda should have asked Megyn Kelly about her own possible plastic surgery history, the Daily Beast noted, although Behar subsequently apologized.
“I just think she’s struggling for a persona. She doesn’t know who she is.”
While a feud tends to be good for ratings, NBC oddly substituted a pre-taped episode this morning about sex trafficking for a live broadcast of Megyn Kelly Today. NBC claims the switch was pre-planned because “[i]t’s a sensitive topic best handled on tape,” the Daily Mail reported.
Even though her viewership has popped somewhat with coverage of sexual harassment scandals, as the Inquisitr has chronicled, Megyn Kelly has encountered challenges in trying to make the transition from prime-time, Fox News Channel news anchor to daytime diva focusing on lifestyle and entertainment on Megyn Kelly Today. In terms of ratings and general audience acceptance, liberals (and especially liberal Twitter) will likely never warm up to her because of her Fox News legacy, while conservatives presumably won’t forgive her for turning negative on Donald Trump during the election season.
Eyebrows were recently raised when it was revealed that Megyn Kelly is the only Today show star staying home at 30 Rock rather than heading to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. NBC even brought back Katie Couric to handle hosting duties there.
Ironically perhaps, Megyn Kelly, Rosie O’Donnell, and Donald Trump are linked in popular culture. Megyn Kelly detractors contend that when the media personality and former corporate lawyer famously challenged Donald Trump during the August 2015 GOP presidential debate over his past disparaging comments about women (“only Rosie O’Donnell,” the future president famously quipped), it was more about careerism and auditioning for another network — which turned out to be NBC — than a legitimate journalistic inquiry. Rosie O’Donnell is a vocal foe of the president.
