Why the Megyn Kelly Flap Matters

October 25, 2018

In her recent apology for tone deaf comments about blackface on Halloween, Megyn Kelly declared, “I have never been a P.C. kind of person.” Neither have I. It’s too easy these days to overreact with indignation at something taken out of context. But that is not what happened here.

Kelly is a renowned journalist who has been a public figure in America for decades. That celebrity gives her a certain amount of license to speak her mind with authority. It also gives her a responsibility to know what she’s talking about. Her error during her segment on Halloween costumes this week wasn’t in speaking her mind plainly. It was in being ignorant of American history—which includes our legacy of minstrelsy—and then being surprised that her comments could have given any offense. Kelly has garnered enough controversy over the years for her comments about African-Americans that she should have done her homework by now.

If there’s a positive outcome from this flap, it will be that public figures like Kelly who speak to an audience of diverse Americans will be expected to understand the history of all Americans, not just Americans who look like them. Understanding and respecting America’s complicated history—and having an interest in healing wounds—does not make one “P.C.” It makes one a patriot.