Megyn Kelly criticises NBC over 30 Rock blackface scenes: ‘What network aired those episodes again?’

Kelly was fired from NBC’s ‘Today’ in 2018 after asking why blackface was wrong

Megyn Kelly has seemingly criticised NBC over their decision to allow Tina Fey to pull episodes of 30 Rock containing blackface from circulation.

Two years after she was fired for comments made about blackface, the TV presenter responded to the news that four 30 Rock episodes that feature the offensive practice were being removed by NBC.

“Wait – what network aired those episodes again?” Kelly tweeted on Tuesday (23 June), causing her followers to point out NBC’s “hypocrisy” on the matter.

“The insane hypocrisy is overwhelming,” one Twitter user wrote, adding: “It’s everywhere, all at once.”

Another wrote: “We were reliably told anyone defending someone else wearing blackface must be cancelled.”

Kelly worked on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today for little over a year until her show was cancelled in October 2018 for comments made by the former Fox News anchor about “inappropriate and offensive costumes”.

“But what is racist?” Kelly asked the guests. “Because 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 okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character.”

She later apologised for the comments, both in an internal email to colleagues and on air.

On Tuesday, it was reported that all episodes of NBC sitcom 30 Rock containing blackface had been pulled from streaming, video on demand and TV reruns at the request of show creator Tina Fey.

In a letter to the platforms, Fey wrote: ‘“As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing makeup are best taken out of circulation.”

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“I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologise for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness. I thank NBCUniversal for honouring this request.”

Both Jane Krakowski and guest star Jon Hamm's characters wore blackface on the show, while a fourth pulled episode of 30 Rock made reference to the far-right conspiracy theory that Barack Obama faked his birth certificate.