Megyn Kelly's Will & Grace comment criticized online
Megyn Kelly kicked off her heavily promoted NBC morning show on Monday with a bit of synergy for network peer Will & Grace — and an awkward joke that left some online scratching their heads.
During a segment with the cast of Will & Grace — including stars Debra Messing, Will McCormack, Sean Hayes, and Megan Mullally — Kelly invited a superfan of the groundbreaking comedy named Russel Turner to meet his television idols. “Is it true that you became a lawyer — and you became gay — because of Will?” Kelly asked in a joking manner. Turner responded in good humor: “I look at Will Truman, I’m like, ‘He has it made’: lawyer, best apartment in New York City, and gay?” he quipped. “Come on, trifecta.”
Kelly then revealed her show was awarding Turner two free tickets to a live Will & Grace taping in Los Angeles, an announcement which left the fan and the audience giddy with excitement. Said Kelly as the crowd applauded: “I think the Will & Grace thing and the gay thing is going to work out great!”
Online, many pointed out that the segment created an incredibly awkward bit of television.
Here is Megyn Kelly telling a gay #WillAndGrace superfan, "I think the 'Will & Grace' thing and the gay thing's gonna work out great." ???????????? pic.twitter.com/KyN9kVQ0rK
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) September 25, 2017
Megyn Kelly is every mom trying waaaaay to hard to "relate" to her gay son but instead just makes it waaaaay worse pic.twitter.com/dh2sSi2kVq
— Will Kellogg (@Will_Kellogg) September 25, 2017
"I think the Will & Grace thing and the gay thing are going to work out great," Megyn Kelly said to a gay W&G superfan this morning. Really.
— Kevin Fallon (@kpfallon) September 25, 2017
I see things are off to a solid start over on Megyn Kelly's new show... https://t.co/fOUoaX0Yyu pic.twitter.com/DmMhvzX6km
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 25, 2017
Kelly’s segment with Will & Grace also touched on the cultural impact the NBC sitcom had when it premiered, and the host cited former Vice President Joe Biden who said: “no other show had as much effect, as calling people’s attention to gay rights.”
“It was surprising and incredibly gratifying,” co-creator David Kohan said in response. “We never set out — there was nothing — we were not an ideological thing. We were not set out to posit ideas into the zeitgeist. We were trying to do a show with four characters and trying to be funny. It was very satisfying. It gave a sense of something else was accomplished here.”
Megyn Kelly Today airs in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour of NBC’s Today. To kick the series off, the host attempted a joke to indicate a change in direction. “We will be dissecting the latest tweet from President Trump,” she told her audience before knowingly backtracking: “Oh no, we will not do that. We will not be doing that. The truth is, I am kind of done with politics for now.”
