US TV host Megyn Kelly has been in the news a bit over the past day or so. She made some comments on her show and industry gossip has suggested that she is about to lose her show because of the comments.
What were the comments that has led to this? During a panel conversation, she made a defence of blackface. In 2018. On national television. Even if she isn't going to lose her show for racist sentiment, the naïveté of thinking this wasn't going to be a problem for her is almost reason enough for moving her on.
It will come as no surprise to you that Samantha bee found this issue one worth covering on this week's episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Not that she - nor writer and correspondent Ashley Nicole Black - was surprised that Megyn Kelly has said something controversial, again. Kelly has been known to offer racist sentiment on the air before - her justifications for why Santa Claus and Jesus were both white, views expressed during her Fox News days, garnered considerable attention. Sam and Ashley are instead mostly just exasperated at even having to cover the story.
Kelly's 'what's so wrong with blackface' comment not just a racist viewpoint, but it's a tired and old conversation that should probably have been retired long ago with Amos and Andy.
Ashley Nicole Black did her masters thesis on blackface minstrelsy and she offers the broader context, explaining that the United States' history of comedy has a strong foundation in racist stereotypes presented by white people. But she doesn't get much further than that. Because why should she have to? Mostly, she's just tired of this still being a conversation.
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee airs Thursday nights on SBS VICELAND at 8:40pm, with episodes also streaming at SBS On Demand.
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