Yet more rumors are emerging about Megyn Kelly’s conduct at NBC. According to a report from Page Six, Kelly “threw an Olympic fit” when she found out that NBC picked “Today” show veteran Katie Couric to anchor the Winter Olympics opening ceremony next month.
Television insiders have said that Kelly’s $23-million-a-year contract with NBC states that she can’t be forced to cover special events like the Olympics. However, Kelly reportedly felt entitled to the Olympics gig following the ouster of longtime “Today” host Matt Lauer — and she was none too happy when NBC went with Couric instead.
“[Kelly] complained to her staff, she complained to her agent, so that [NBC News chairman Andrew Lack] would hear about the fact that she was unhappy, but he didn’t care,” one source said, adding that Lack has finally realized Kelly is “a diva” and that “she’s not going to be part of the NBC News . . . inner circle.”
EXCLUSIVE: Megyn Kelly “threw a fit” over Katie Couric’s Olympics gig https://t.co/Qm19gn1YX3 pic.twitter.com/OxYupXPuAM
— New York Post (@nypost) January 30, 2018
Lending credence to the Page Six report is the fact that Kelly is NBC’s only big-name news star not traveling to the Winter Olympics this year, which are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The personalities NBC is sending to the event include Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Craig Melvin, Lester Holt, and Dylan Dreyer.
However, an NBC News insider says there’s “zero truth” to the claim of Kelly’s fit. “[The opening ceremony is] the least desirable gig in broadcasting, given the inevitable brutal reviews,” the insider said.
But even if that’s true, it’s odd that NBC would leave Kelly – their highest-paid host host – at home. As The Hill media columnist Joe Concha told Fox News, Kelly “could still use the kind of exposure and interviews you only get when physically at the Olympics.”
It’s been a rough year for Kelly at NBC. Earlier this month a fired “Megyn Kelly Today” writer claimed that the show has a “toxic and demeaning” work culture in which young female assistants are routinely abused by their higher-ups – and Kelly has done nothing about it.
Maybe she should have stayed at Fox.
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