NBC’s Al Roker And Craig Melvin Excoriate Megyn Kelly: ‘She Owes A Bigger Apology To Folks Of Color’

Prior to Megyn Kelly beginning her morning program with a public apology for saying that she didn’t understand what the big deal about blackface was, two of her black colleagues scolded her over the remarks while explaining that she needed to issue a larger apology to people of color.

With Kelly having sent out an email to NBC staffers after her Tuesday segment caused a firestorm of controversy, NBC’s Al Roker and Craig Melvin noted that while it was good she did that, she needed to reach out more to the African American community on this issue.

“The fact is, while she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country because this is our history,” Roker said after the TODAY Show ran a report on the incident.

Megyn Kelly issued an apology in an email to colleagues for a controversial comment she made on her show Tuesday about blackface. pic.twitter.com/0MJUvA1tjZ

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 24, 2018

Melvin pointed out that he had seen online conversation that claimed that this was all political correctness run amok, calling that charge “silly” and “disingenuous.” Noting that Kelly was a friend and colleague, Melvin stated that what she said was “stupid” and “indefensible.”

“The fact is a lot of folks don’t realize that Jim Crow — shorthand for the racist laws that existed in this country for much of the last century, especially in the Deep South — the term Jim Crow came from a minstrel show in the 1830s,” Melvin added. “It was an opportunity for us to learn more about blackface, but I think a lot of people knew about blackface before yesterday.”