Megyn Kelly will no longer host NBC’s morning “Today” show, NPR and People reported on Thursday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The news comes just days after Kelly received backlash for defending Halloween costumes involving blackface. Separate reports from the Daily Mail, TMZ and US Weekly on Thursday indicated Kelly was out at NBC altogether, but HuffPost could not independently confirm these reports.
NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kelly had reportedly met with NBC News chairman Andy Lack to discuss ending her morning show prior to the controversy, citing an interest in covering more news and politics.
The former Fox News host drew backlash on Tuesday after suggesting it wasn’t racist for white people to darken their skin while dressing up for Halloween.
“When I was a kid, that was OK, so long as you were dressing up as a character,” Kelly, who was born in 1970, told an all-white panel during her show on Tuesday. “I can’t keep up with the number of people we’re offending just by being normal people.”
She apologized later that day for her comments in an internal email to NBC staff, stating that she had rethought her views after “listening carefully” to her friends and teammates.
“I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry,” Kelly wrote in the email to her colleagues. “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.”
Kelly also delivered an on-air apology Wednesday, followed by a discussion on race in America. She did not appear on the show Thursday morning, and the network is airing reruns for the rest of the week.
Lack told NBC News employees during a town hall on Wednesday that he condemned Kelly’s comments.
“There is no other way to put this but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate,” he said. “As we go forward, my highest priority remains, and as we sort through this with Megyn, let there be no doubt that this is a workplace in which you need to be proud and in which we respect each other in all the ways we know is foundational to who we are.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.