Megyn Kelly has chosen to work at a company that does NOT sexually harass its employees.
(That does not allegedly sexually harass its employees, we ought to legally say.)
The reporter, who made a huge name for herself over the past several years at Fox News, has signed a new deal with NBC.
According to a network press release, Kelly will anchor a one-hour program that will air in a yet-to-be-determined timeslot Monday through Friday.
As part of the multi-year contract, Kelly will also headline a new Sunday evening news magazine program and will contribute to NBC’s breaking news coverage, along with network’s political and special events coverage.
This decision has been confirmed by Andrew Lack, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group.
In today’s somewhat surprising announcement, Lack referred to Kelly as “an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” and has “demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”
Kelly most definitely did have an extraordinary 2016, at least in terms of the headlines she made.
First, Kelly feuded with Donald Trump as a result of what Trump felt to be an unfair line of questioning during the first Republican Presidential debate.
At one point, she compared The Donald to Harry Potter villain Voldermort.
She also feuded with Fox News colleague Sean Hannity because he believed Kelly to be pro-Hillary Clinton, while Hannity has (very clearly) been on Team Trump.
But things then took a turn for the far more serious when Kelly accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.
In Kelly’s memoir, “Settle for More,” the now-former Fox News reporter writes that Ailes (the ex-Fox News Corp. Chairman who resigned under siege last year) began to treat her inappropriately soon after she was hired in 2005.
“Roger began pushing the limits,” she claims, adding in disgusting detail:
“There was a pattern to his behavior. I would be called into Roger’s office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me – veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the ‘very sexy bras’ I must have and how he’d like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice.”
Yuck.
In January 2006, Kelly writes that Ailes “crossed a new line – trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips.”
She went on to say that Ailes threatened her job if Kelly did not go along with his sexual advances.
The behavior only stopped after Kelly reported what had happened to a supervisor.
But Ailes has since been accused of sexual harassment by Gretchen Carlson and other former Fox News employees.
Following a steady stream of these accusations, Ailes quit his post a few months ago (with a hefty check in his bank account and a new job as Donald Trump advisor).
Kelly’s Fox contract is not up until this summer.
The New York Times reports that the network had offered Kelly more than $ 20 million a year to stick around.
However, NBC won her over by asking her what type of deal would be most attractive to her, taking into account the schedule of her family, which includes three school-age children.
It’s unclear at the moment just when Kelly will leave Fox and start her stint with NBC.
Will you follow her there?
Or are you a Fox News loyalist?
And will Trump Tweet about this development?
Stay tuned. Find out!