Advertisements

Megyn Kelly took a day off from her show “The Kelly File” to think about how she wanted to respond to the furor she had caused by saying Jesus and St. Nick were white guys.

After some no doubt weighty reflection, she decided, and came back Friday not to apologize for being a not-very-bright racist but to tell us all that because we did not recognize her “lighthearted” and “off-hand jest” Wednesday for what it was, we don’t have a sense of humor – oh, and that we’re just a bunch of race baiters taking cheap shots at “powerful” Fox News.

Yes, as you no doubt all suspected all along, it was us humorless “libruls” getting the black folks riled up, and you know how much cranky old conservative whitey hates and fears riled up black folks. They’ve tried for years to push Obama into this sort of “riled up” reaction so he can justify their fears, and Megyn Kelly didn’t hesitate to blame the victim Friday night.

Advertisements

Watch what can only be called her “lamesplanation” courtesy of Raw Story:

In kicking off the lighthearted segment, I offered a tongue-in-cheek message for any kids watching, saying that Santa, who I joked is a real person whose race is identifiable, is white. I realize that the piece by Harris, that went on to argue that Santa should be a ‘penguin’ was also tongue in cheek. That’s part of why we covered the story in the first place — humor is a part of what we try to bring to this show, but sometimes that’s lost on the humorless. Cue the firestorm of controversy over my declaring Santa’s skin color, many questioning whether I understand Santa is a mythical figure. Others suggesting I am a racist who is outraged at the idea of a white Santa.

(Cue Kelly presenting a bunch of black people daring to be offended by Kelly’s little joke)

Well, this would be funny if it were not so telling about our society, in particular the knee-jerk instinct by so may to race bait and to assume the worst in people. Especially people employed by the very powerful Fox News channel.

Well…it IS very telling about our society. That much is true…

But there was obviously nothing lighthearted about Kelly’s rant Wednesday. She smiles about it now but she was not smiling then and even her smile now seems put-on. If it was humor – and is clearly was not – then Kelly is admitting to poking fun at Aisha Harris and the legitimacy of her experiences as a black person, and that’s not funny at all.

What Kelly did next was engage in some heroic dissembling:

Contrary to what my critics have posited,” she went on, “Neither my statement, nor Harris’ I’m sure, was motivated by any racial fear or loathing. In fact, it was something far less sinister: A lifetime of exposure to the very same ‘commercials, mall-casting calls, and movies’ Harris references in her piece. From Miracle on 34th Street to the Thanksgiving Day Parade to the National Christmas Tree Lighting, we continually see St. Nick as a white man in modern-day America. Should that change? Well, that debate got lost because so many could not get past the fact that I acknowledged- as Harris did – that the most commonly depicted image of Santa does in fact have white skin.

That is not at all what Kelly was saying of course. She was not in fact agreeing with Aisha Harris – as Aisha Harris realized Thursday – but taking exception to Harris’ suggestion that we should be arriving at a post-ethnic Santa, by insisting that Santa is a white guy; not that we just see him as a white guy but that he IS a white guy – and oh by the way – Jesus is too.

The closest Kelly came to a mea culpa (that’s Latin for “my bad”) was her, “By the way, I also said Jesus is white. As I’ve learned in the past two days, that is far from settled.”

You just learned that now, did you? All that schooling and you just now figured out Jesus was a Semite? Really? Okay, maybe that Fox News reality bubble is physically real. Facts get erased from the brain and new information really does NOT get in.

All humor aside (sorry, could not resist), Kelly’s “lamesplanation” Friday just doesn’t cut it. It is all too much like those tea party racist cracks about Obama and the inevitable “liberals just don’t have a sense of humor” shtick. All at once, Kelly pronounced to the world her hypocrisy, her lack of honesty, and her lack of integrity, which, of course, is only a reflection of the same failings of Fox News on a corporate level.

A real trooper, Megyn Kelly. Lie, then lie again about lying, hypocritically express outrage that people lie and distort facts for ideological purposes, all the while just pretending – when people react with justifiable anger- that it was all in fun and we just don’t have a sense of humor.

I’m just joking of course.