Megyn Kelly has been officially dropped by NBC after only one year of her three-year contract.

The ex-Fox News host was under fire this week after defending blackface in a controversial segment. After outcry, new episodes of Megyn Kelly Today were temporarily replaced with repeats while talks were held.

“Megyn Kelly Today is not returning,” NBC News has now announced. “Next week, the 9am hour will be hosted by other Today co-anchors.”

In a statement, her lawyer claimed that the process was ongoing. “Megyn remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing,” said Bryan Freedman.

Kelly had signed a $69m contract that saw her take on a short-lived news show Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly where she interviewed figures such as Alex Jones and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Her hour-long section of the Today show started in September 2017 and was met with negative reviews.

In her show, she had offended celebrities including Jane Fonda and Debra Messing, expressed support for fat-shaming and cast doubt upon women coming forward with sexual assault allegations, stating that the #MeToo movement had “expanded to the point of ridiculousness by some”. She also defended supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh while questioning the women claiming he had assaulted them.

During a segment this week, as part of a panel comprised of white people, Kelly became the lone defender of the use of blackface. “Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who put on whiteface for Halloween,” she said. “When I was a kid, that was OK as long as you were dressing up as a character.”

Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe — Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) October 23, 2018

After widespread anger over her comments and reports that the House of Cards cast refused to be interviewed by her, she circulated an internal email to her NBC colleagues. “I’ve never been a PC kind of person – but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age,” she said.

Her tenure at Fox News had already showcased a string of troubling views, often related to race including a 2014 segment that saw her question claims of racism over the much-publicised deaths of two unarmed young black men. “What is the evidence that what happened to Eric Garner and what happened to Michael Brown has anything to do with race?” she asked.

She also gained notoriety for insisting that Santa Claus was white and referring to a “thug mentality” within black communities that led to a hatred of police.

In a forthcoming film based on the downfall of ex-Fox chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, accused of sexual harassment by many employees, Kelly will be played by Charlize Theron, who is currently in the middle of a production. A source has claimed that the character in the script can be described as “ambitious, hard-working and not highly intelligent”.

When asked by USA Today whether Fox News would be keen to have Kelly return, a spokesperson replied: “We are extremely happy with our entire lineup.”