Last week, Megyn Kelly was fired from her NBC morning show for defending the use of “blackface” as a Halloween costume. Now, an old episode of “The View” has been uncovered in which one of the more notorious co-hosts suffers her own blackface scandal. This one, however, was handled much differently than Kelly’s instance.
Last week, Megyn Kelly defended the use of blackface as a Halloween costume, much to the horror of a panel of guests on her show. “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 white face for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character,” said Kelly.
“There was a controversy on ‘The Real Housewives of New York’ with Luann (de Lesseps). She dressed as Diana Ross, and she made her skin look darker than it really is. And people said that that was racist. And I don’t know! I thought like, who doesn’t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don’t know how that got racist on Halloween,” Kelly added.
Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) October 23, 2018
Kelly apologized for her comments, but NBC still decided to let her go, eating the cost of her $69 million contract.
In the wake of Megyn Kelly’s blackface scandal, an old video of “The View” co-host Joy Behar has surfaced. In the clip, Behar is exposed for doing something far more egregious than simply talking about blackface on television — she actually dressed in blackface and there are pictures to prove it.
Behar, however, still has her job. There was no backlash. She was never forced to apologize. Weird.
Megyn Kelly and Joy Behar were handled very differently by their respective networks, though this double-standard shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. Indeed, this is not the first time that a right-leaning public figure has lost their job for doing something moderately offensive while one of their liberal colleagues did something far worse and was given little more than a slap on the wrist.
Just look at what happened to Roseanne Barr. A vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, Barr was fired by ABC and her beloved character summarily killed off of the show that she starred in and created. That was all over a tweet aimed at former Obama advisor Valerie Jarett that was deemed “racist” by the liberal Hollywood overlords.
Nevermind the fact that Barr did not know Jarrett was black when she sent the tweet. Nevermind the fact that she apologized profusely.
Meanwhile, liberal comedian Samantha Bee infamously called Ivanka Trump a “feckless cunt.” Bee did not lose her job over the incendiary comment.
This happens all the time. As long as you’re part of the political left, you’re allowed to say or do whatever you want, no matter how offensive. But the same cannot be said for those on the right, who are liable to lose their careers over a single misstatement.
If blackface is really so offensive, Joy Behar ought to be removed from her position on “The View.” After all, what she did was far worse than what Megyn Kelly said. While Kelly made an off-the-cuff comment, Behar actually obscured her appearance with darker makeup in order to actively look like a black woman. Then, she proudly posed for photos.
There’s no question as to who has committed the bigger offense. But don’t hold your breath waiting for ABC to make the right decision here. We already know from experience that the network will simply look the other way because Behar is a prominent liberal.
