*By Max Godnick* Megyn Kelly is not a morning person ー at least, not anymore. Reports on Thursday morning indicated that the anchor's days as an NBC host are numbered, following her controversial on-air comments earlier this week that [defended wearing blackface on Halloween](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDni4xqxlBQ). As of Thursday afternoon, the sources still appeared to disagree on the details. [Page Six](https://pagesix.com/2018/10/25/megyn-kelly-out-at-nbc-after-defending-blackface/) reported that the network fired Kelly for her comments, while [People](https://people.com/tv/nbc-cancels-megyn-kelly-today-after-blackface/) cited multiple sources alleging that her hour-long slot on "The Today Show" had been canceled. CNN's Brian Stelter stopped short of declaring her NBC tenure over, adding on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1055516340818198528) that Kelly "likely is leaving NBC but her lawyer and the network lawyers still have some negotiating to do." Whatever the specifics, it does seem that Kelly's roller-coaster run at the network that paid her a reported $23 million a year is quickly coming to an end. "Megyn Kelly had an attitude of defiance that was cloaked in journalistic curiosity," Natasha Alford, deputy editor at The Grio, said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar. "If you're going to enter public discourse, you have to understand that there are consequences to things that you say." Kelly apologized twice for her remarks, once in an internal memo sent to her NBC colleagues, and again on air during her show on Wednesday. Kelly said about her comments, "I have never been a PC kind of person. But I do understand the value in being sensitive to our history, particularly on race and ethnicity. This past year has been so painful for many people of color." On Thursday, NBC aired a rerun of "Megyn Kelly Today" and will continue to do so for at least the remainder of the week. The anchor's time at NBC was marred by a seemingly never-ending string of controversies beginning shortly after she left Fox News in January of 2017. Reports about her salary immediately raised eyebrows, spurring her predecessor Tamron Hall to [leave](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/business/media/tamron-hall-leaves-nbc.html) 'Today' after learning Kelly would replace and make more than her in the coveted 9:00 a.m. ET timeslot. NBC executives had originally given Kelly a Sunday evening news magazine program in addition to her morning show, but it was pulled two episodes early following disappointing ratings. She was criticized for interviewing InfoWars founder Alex Jones and taking a [smiling photo](https://twitter.com/yashar/status/874389915865276416) alongside him, despite his repeated false claims that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a false flag operation. In September 2017, Kelly offended actress Jane Fonda during an [interview](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/01/22/the-megyn-kelly-jane-fonda-drama-explained/) when she asked about her history with plastic surgery. Earlier this month, the journalist told [Us Weekly](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/10/24/what-did-megyn-kelly-say-blackface-jane-fonda-debra-messing-shaming-santa-white/1750888002/) that she regretted the incident, acknowledging that it "didn't go well." Her show's ratings never recovered from the slow start. According to [Nielsen](https://www.thewrap.com/megyn-kelly-today-nbc-ratings-blackface/), the slot's audiences fell 13 percent from September 2017 to September 2018. The decline indicates that NBC's bet that hiring Kelly would court Fox News's conservative-leaning viewers never paid off. "\[She\] still kind of had that Fox News edge to her," Alford said. "It just feels like it was doomed from the beginning." For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/megyn-kelly-reportedly-out-at-nbc).
