NBC News is under a lot of stress following Megyn Kelly’s calculated rebuke of Jane Fonda as execs try to de-escalate the bad attention the host has brought the network.
NBC News Chairman Andy Lack was particularly perturbed that deputy, Noah Oppenheim, was away in North Korea when Kelly went live with her tirade.
The controversial Kelly blasted the Hollywood star, during a segment of her ‘Today’ show on Monday, for continuously bringing up the September interview where Kelly, 47, inquired about the 80-year-old’s experience with plastic surgery while the star was on for ‘Our Souls at Night.’
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NBC News Chairman Andy Lack was perturbed that deputy, Noah Oppenheim, was away in North Korea when Megyn Kelly went live with her tirade against Jane Fonda
![Kelly blasted Jane Fonda for continuously bringing up their awkward September interview where the Today host asked the actress about her plastic surgery](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/27/13/48A0D85100000578-0-image-a-14_1517059230977.jpg)
Kelly blasted Jane Fonda for continuously bringing up their awkward September interview where the Today host asked the actress about her plastic surgery
Execs were privy to Kelly’s plans for the segment, according to multiple sources, but were not able to review the script. Kelly was said to have wrote the script, herself, over the weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Oppenheim was away in North Korea, working with Lester Holt of ‘Nightly News,’ and was unable to look over the struggling show’s script for that day. North Korean media outlets reported that he arrived on Saturday.
‘There was no meaningful executive review of Megyn’s script,’ an NBC insider explained to Fox News. ‘She went rogue.’
![Oppenheim was away in North Korea, working with Lester Holt of 'Nightly News,' and was unable to look over the struggling show's script for that day](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/27/13/48A0D7CC00000578-0-image-a-11_1517059012271.jpg)
Oppenheim was away in North Korea, working with Lester Holt of ‘Nightly News,’ and was unable to look over the struggling show’s script for that day
When Fonda appeared on the Today show on January 16 with Lily Tomlin, the two shared a witty exchange where Tomlin shared that they had been friends before the star’s ‘first face-lift.’ Fonda responded: ‘We don’t need to hear that. Who are you, Megyn Kelly?’
![And while Kelly's planned attack on Fonda included producers airing photos of Fonda in Vietnam and of her discussing her plastic surgery, Andy Lack was still not aware of he extent at which she would rant](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/27/13/48A0D7D000000578-0-image-a-13_1517059065621.jpg)
And while Kelly’s planned attack on Fonda included producers airing photos of Fonda in Vietnam and of her discussing her plastic surgery, Andy Lack was still not aware of he extent at which she would rant
In an interview with Variety, Fonda also was said to have said that Kelly was ‘not that good an interviewer.’
In her monologue, Kelly called Fonda ‘a woman whose name is synonymous with outrage’ highlighting her infamous Vietnam War nickname ‘Hanoi Jane’ from when Fonda was photographed on an anti-aircraft gun used against Americans in 1972.
Fonda has long since apologized for the incident but that didn’t stop Kelly from dusting off the cobwebs to bring up old news.
What followed were a slue of critiques from multiple celebrities and journalist who felt that Kelly was letting her embarrassment and personal feelings interfere with her professionalism.
Many within NBC were ‘stunned’ by the way in which Kelly handled the Fonda debacle.
And while Kelly’s planned attack on Fonda included producers airing photos of Fonda in Vietnam and of her discussing her plastic surgery, Andy Lack was still not aware of he extent at which she would rant.
![Lack was unaware by the extent at which Kelly would rant and was also bothered by Lester Holt's Korea coverage, calling Oppenheim back early to New York](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/27/13/48A0D8DE00000578-0-image-a-12_1517059040707.jpg)
Lack was unaware by the extent at which Kelly would rant and was also bothered by Lester Holt’s Korea coverage, calling Oppenheim back early to New York
NBC sources told Fox News that he was not amused with the tirade and that he was also displeased with Holt’s North Korea coverage.
He even recalled Oppenheim and his team back to New York, cutting short their Korean stint.
‘NBC has apparently not found a way to manage this high-priced personality,’ media analyst and DePauw University professor Jeff McCall said to Fox News.
‘NBC brass needs to better figure out how to utilize Kelly, and then insist she get with the system.’
When contacted by Fox, an NBC spokesperson was said to have said: ‘Not a single story you’ve written about the internal workings of NBC News has been accurate, and neither is this one.’