In her first television interview since her departure from NBC News, Megyn Kelly said that NBC needs to conduct an “outside investigation” over the network’s handling of sexual assault allegations made against Matt Lauer, to determine what executives were aware of beforehand.
“The question is open to whether they put dollars ahead of decency, about whether they were more interested in protecting their star anchor than they were in protecting the women of the company,” Kelly told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Wednesday evening. “There needs to be an outside investigation into this company. They investigated themselves. That doesn’t work.”
She declined to comment on whether executives like NBC News President Noah Oppenheim were at risk for being fired.
Kelly, who was also a former host on Fox News, said that the “number one thing” NBC should do now is “release any and all Matt Lauer accusers” from their NDAs so that they can discuss any potential sexual harassment or other misconduct they experienced.
“NBC says it has nothing to hide. Great, let’s not hide anything,” Kelly said. “Show us all of the agreements, the ‘enhanced severance’ agreements that were reached, or at least the numbers so we can see which ones pop out, which ones are super high. And are they all women? And do they all have a connection with Matt Lauer?”
Kelly said that when she was still working at NBC, she had also been looking into what network executives were aware of regarding Lauer and how NBC had handled Ronan Farrow’s reporting into Weinstein. (NBC has repeatedly denied the accusations that it knew of the allegations against Lauer long before he was fired, or that they had succumbed to pressure from Weinstein to kill Farrow’s reporting.)
“I talked to Ronan, I talked to his producer Rich McHugh, I talked to Rose McGowan, I talked to many Harvey Weinstein victims and accusers and was getting to the bottom of what NBC knew while I was there,” Kelly said. “The number one thing I wanted to know is what did they know and when did they know it.”
Later in the episode, Carlson probed Kelly on what she had “learned” since her exit from NBC News earlier this year. Her solo show, “Megyn Kelly Today,” was cancelled in Oct. 2018 after she defended wearing blackface in the context of dressing up for Halloween.
In her response, Kelly made a jab at the director Woody Allen. “I am like Woody Allen. I’m 48 years old, I’ve learned nothing,” she joked. “No, I have learned a thing or two. What comes to mind is the goodness of humanity, the kindness of strangers. Just as awful as the media can be, actual humans are awesome and loving and kind and helpful.”
Though Kelly said she eventually has plans to reenter her career, she said that she wasn’t ready to do so immediately.
“I’ll get back on that horse soon because this has been fun, so I’ll probably get back out there,” she said, “but right now, I’m still enjoying my day-to-day life with my family and friends.”
Watch the interview above.