Megyn Kelly’s exit from NBC News was finalized last week after months of painstaking negotiations over what she can say about her now-former bosses and colleagues, it has been reported.
As per the terms of her $30million severance agreement with the Peacock Network, Kelly will not be permitted to dish dirt about what took place behind the scenes at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
NBC management insisted in talks with Kelly that she sign the non-disparagement clause in exchange for her receiving the full sum of the original $69million contract she signed with the network in the summer of 2017, according to Page Six.
An NBC source told Page Six that Kelly has lots to tell about her former co-workers, who reportedly held a grudge against the onetime Fox News host for the gargantuan salary she was pulling down.
Megyn Kelly’s exit from NBC News was finalized last week after months of painstaking negotiations over what she can say about her now-former bosses and colleagues. Kelly is seen in April 2018 in New York City
‘Once Megyn’s salary was made public, the knives were out,’ the source said.
‘Other network talent went in demanding a raise equivalent to Megyn, and were not happy to be told “no”.’
The resentment toward Kelly from her colleagues was evident by the fact that she was never invited to serve as a substitute host for one of the TODAY show stars during the main 7am to 9am broadcast, according to Page Six.
Kelly was also left out of some of the network’s biggest events, including the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Andy Lack, the head of NBC News, ‘set up Kelly to fail’, according to a network insider
She also wasn’t asked to sub for Lester Holt on the NBC Nightly News or appear on the broadcast showing the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
The source also said that Kelly never had a chance since she was hired by NBC News chief Andy Lack to do a job for which was ill-suited.
‘In many ways, Megyn was set up by Andy Lack to fail,’ the source said.
‘A warm and fuzzy show was never right for her.’
Kelly’s relationship with the network continued to go downhill after she made on-air comments critical of her bosses.
Last September, she called for an outside law firm to investigate the network over Ronan Farrow’s reporting of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations.
Farrow has long claimed that NBC blocked him from airing his reporting, which he eventually took to the New Yorker magazine. Farrow won the Pulitzer Prize for his work on Weinstein.
In October, Kelly upset NBC brass when she said she doubted Matt Lauer, the former TODAY host, could make a comeback because ‘I know too much [about Lauer] that others don’t know.’
These comments apparently motivated NBC executives to do what they could to persuade Kelly to keep quiet.
‘Look at what she was able to say when she was in the building, imagine what she might want to say when let loose,’ an NBC insider told Page Six.
Kelly was reportedly the subject of jealousy within the network because of her salary. The animus toward her was such that she was never invited to substitute for one of the TODAY hosts. From left: Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Kelly, Al Roker, and Dylan Dreyer last January
While Kelly walked away with $69million, NBC is apparently a happier place now that she’s gone.
A network insider told Page Six: ‘Seems like post-breakup euphoria at 30 Rock.
‘There’s a great team in place, ratings jumped double digits and the audience is responding enthusiastically.
‘Everyone is happy to have turned a page in the new year.’
When Kelly first arrived at the network in the summer of 2017, she hosted a one-hour newsmagazine called Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.
But poor ratings and public backlash to a controversial interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones doomed the show.
Kelly then tried her hand at an Oprah-style talk show with a studio audience. This show would be the third hour of the TODAY show.
But that experiment also failed due to low viewership.
Kelly reportedly irked her bosses in September when she called for an independent law firm to investigate the network for its handling of Ronan Farrow’s (left) reporting on the Harvey Weinstein (right) allegations
Kelly was finally yanked off the air after her remarks condoning the use of blackface by Caucasians on Halloween.
Kelly made a tearful apology to viewers following her blackface comments, but it proved to be her last appearance on NBC News.
NBC says she’ll be replaced in the third hour of TODAY by anchors Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones.
Kelly has indicated that she plans to return to television in time for the 2020 election.
Kelly was all smiles Thursday night while out for dinner with her husband, Doug Brunt, in New York City.
When asked by photographers whether she would make a comeback on TV this year, she replied: ‘You’ll definitely see me back on there.’
NBC would not comment Friday on whether the separation agreement allows her to write about her experiences at the network.
There’s no non-compete clause, meaning Kelly is free to seek other television work if she wants to.