Al Roker Rips Megyn Kelly for Blackface Remarks on ‘Today’

Today show host Al Roker recently ripped into Megyn Kelly over her blackface remarks on the show, saying that he doesn’t feel her apology was sufficient.

According to PEOPLE, during the morning show’s 7 a.m. hour, Roker, Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie all spoke about the incident and Roker did not hold back his feelings.

“The fact is, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the county,” Roker stated. “This is a history, going back to the 1830s [with] minstrel shows. To demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right.”

“I’m old enough to have lived through Amos ‘n’ Andy where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters just magnifying the stereotypes about black people. And that’s what the big problem is,” he added. “No good comes from it. It’s just not right.”

“She said something stupid, she said something indefensible,“ Melvin went on to add, also calling Kelly’s statement “ignorant and racist.”

Kelly’s comments about blackface came earlier this week when she defended the use the act for Halloween costumes, and specifically cited the time Real Housewives of New York star Luann de Lesseps received backlash for dressing up as Diana Ross.

“She dressed as Diana Ross and she made her skin look darker than it really is,” she explained. “And people said that was racist, and I don’t know. I thought, like, who doesn’t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day? I don’t know how that got racist on Halloween.”

This led to the Megyn Kelly TODAY host receiving quite a lot of backlash herself, which then prompted her to make a public apology on her Wednesday episode.

Following the apology, Kelly moderated a conversation with Amy Holmes and Roland Martin, two experts on racial sensitivity.

“There are lines, and there’s history, and there’s pain. And when we acknowledge that, then we can learn and grow from it,” Martin said regarding the use of blackface in modern society.

While she has not been fired for her comments, recent rumors have suggested that Kelly may be planning to exit her hosting position. However, no official confirmation has been made on that at this time.