SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly delivered sharp criticism against NBC News during her Tuesday broadcast, accusing the network of failing to evolve its approach to transgender-related reporting.
Kelly acknowledged her own role in what she described as problematic coverage during her tenure at NBC from 2017 to 2018.
The former network anchor expressed regret about her participation in early transgender ideology reporting.
“The news media is part of the problem. I worked at NBC. I was part of the problem while there,” Kelly stated during “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
She emphasized that while the movement was still developing during her time there, enough information existed to warrant different coverage approaches.
Kelly pointed to 2018 as a pivotal moment when awareness should have been higher.
She noted that the transgender ideology movement had not yet reached its current prominence, but sufficient concerns existed to merit more careful reporting.
The host explained that her understanding of the issues has evolved significantly since leaving NBC.
Kelly reflected on the media landscape during her NBC tenure, describing it as a period when many outlets were beginning to grapple with transgender-related stories.
She suggested that newsrooms were unprepared for the complexity of these issues and failed to adequately research the long-term implications of their coverage decisions.
The SiriusXM host directed particular criticism at NBC’s continued coverage approach.
She argued that the network has ignored emerging data and testimonials regarding medical interventions for trans-identifying youth.
“NBC has learned nothing,” Kelly said.
“They’ve learned nothing from the explosion of this ideology amongst children and their testimonials and the data we now have on what puberty blockers into cross-sex hormones does to a young girl’s or boy’s fertility and sexual function,” Kelly declared.
Kelly emphasized that NBC has disregarded evidence about the long-term effects of medical treatments on young people.
She stated, “It’s all about you have to affirm, or you’re a bigot.”
“They refuse to use biologically based language. Pronouns and words like ‘daughter’ should not have been in that NBC News piece.”
Kelly’s criticism extends beyond NBC to what she characterizes as industry-wide practices.
She praised an exchange that occurred on CNN as an example of proper pushback against transgender reporting practices, highlighting California attorney Julie Hamill’s confrontation with the network’s Brianna Keilar during a weekend broadcast.
“It was attorney Julie Hamill who confronted far left activist Brianna Keilar, who poses as a neutral news anchor but is really just a partisan hack,” Kelly said.
She praised Hamill’s direct questioning of Keilar’s language choices.
The CNN exchange centered on coverage of biological male athlete AB Hernandez, who competes in women’s sports.
Keilar had referred to Hernandez using female pronouns during the discussion about fair competition.
The Daily Caller noted that the conversation highlighted ongoing tensions about language usage in sports-related transgender coverage.
Hamill directly challenged Keilar’s pronoun usage, asking who “her” referred to before clarifying that Hernandez is a biological male who identifies as female.
Kelly played audio of this exchange to demonstrate preferred reporting approaches.
She endorsed Hamill’s direct questioning style, stating “That’s how it’s done” after playing the clip.
