White feminism's failings handed Megyn Kelly a $69m payout after she was fired for racism

Once one of America’s most sought-after hosts, Megyn Kelly – along with her former network, NBC – has today come under heavy fire for accepting a $69 million pay-out after she was fired for comments defending the use of blackface.

The astronomical settlement has, quite rightly, faced widespread criticism. It seems like an incredibly unfair turn of events, but it’s also an important opportunity to take a moment and consider the forces at play that got us to this point. In a blind desire to transform Kelly into an unrequited liberal feminist icon, it was the denial of her reactionary and often racist views that gave rise to her power. As a white person and a feminist, I’m ashamed of how still in 2019 true intersectionality seems as far from reach as it ever was.

Kelly’s firing was no surprise. It came after months of failing ratings and public spats with her executives. However, it was her assertion that blackface was acceptable “as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character” that ultimately led to her dismissal in October 2018.

The comments followed a long string of racist remarks that can be traced back, unsurprisingly, to her stint on Fox News. From her public declaration that Jesus was a white man, and similar rant that “Santa is just white”, Kelly’s racist views are well documented. She once referred to Michelle Obama as Barack’s “Baby Mama”, has routinely defended cops who fatally shot or assaulted black men and women, supported the “All Lives Matter” movement, and shown a public affinity and friendship towards alt-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones.

Despite this, Kelly has been hailed a “feminist hero” by writers at the Washington Examiner, and was christened an “unlikely feminist warrior” by critic Emily Nussbaum at the New Yorker. Nussbaum’s decision to refer to Kelly as a “purified” saint of the feminist movement speaks volumes about how white feminists have facilitated the successful rise of a commentator like Kelly.

The belief that white women are “pure” and “fragile” has played a large part in making white women the most dangerous proponents of racism, and it is exactly this history that has, in my view, allowed Kelly to fail upwards.

Kelly was allowed to get to where she was because the idea of her as a feminist was more enticing to us than the truth about her views. This represents white feminism at its worst – ignoring the experience of those less privileged than us in order to further our own standing. After all, it’s hard enough to constantly question gender norms, let alone also fight racial oppression, or push for LGBTQ+ rights or representation of those differently abled.

Until we are able to acknowledge the Kelly affair as a direct consequence of the pitfalls of white feminism, we will be unable to dismantle the structural racism that permeates our society. By celebrating the success of white women like Kelly without criticism of her views on race, we – as white feminists – are complicit in the racial oppression that sustains our privilege.

Kelly is no stranger to weaponising the feminist movement to suit her agenda. She can win points by questioning Donald Trump’s history of denigrating women as pigs, dogs and slobs, or championing the Me Too movement, and later cosy up to the president on her television show or defend Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

At the same time, visible women of colour are harassed out of work for expressing their own views and fighting white supremacy. In 2017, activist Munroe Bergdoff was fired from a L’Oreal Campaign after she suggested that white people should work to make themselves more aware of unconscious racism.

Meanwhile, figures like Kelly continue to “win” – not only was she given millions of dollars, but Kelly has stated she is confident she will be back on television before the 2020 election. And she may well be right.

Despite the initial uproar, a survey conducted by The Hollywood Reporter a few days after Kelly’s firing found that nearly half of the 2,201 adults questioned felt NBC's decision to cancel Megyn Kelly Today was "too harsh of a consequence”.

Until we admit our complicity in Kelly’s rise to power, and begin to hold each other accountable for racism, rather than applauding or ignoring it under the guise of ‘supporting women’, racism will continue to be the white woman’s pathway to power.