Megyn Kelly is continuing her hard-right tack, lashing back at Ben Shapiro and aligning herself with Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon as the MAGA movement dramatically splinters.
Kelly said she was “flabbergasted” that right-wing commentator Shapiro criticized her on a public stage last week, and she accused Shapiro and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “making antisemites.” The remarks come after Shapiro accused a number of right-wing figures for trafficking in anti-Israel conspiracy theories after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Shapiro and Kelly both attended AmericaFest, Turning Point USA’s annual conference. The four-day event, which took place in Phoenix, was the first since Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.
When Shapiro took the stage, he criticized what he referred to as “charlatans” and “grifters” in the conservative movement. “The conservative movement is in serious danger, from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty, who offer nothing but bile and despair,” Shapiro said in his remarks.
He also called out Kelly, along with Carlson and Bannon, by name, for not joining him in denouncing podcaster Candace Owens, who has alleged that Kirk was killed as part of a conspiracy that possibly involves members of the Israeli government. Shapiro is staunchly pro-Israel.
But Kelly told Vanity Fair that she believes Shapiro, Weiss and others are actually partially to blame for the rise of antisemitism thanks to their efforts to censor criticism of Israel.
“They are making antisemites,” Kelly said. “Tucker is not making antisemites. They are.”
It’s an about-face for Kelly, who as recently as Oct. 6 was praising Weiss and congratulating her on being hired at CBS News. “@bariweiss deserves every bit of this success and I am thrilled to see her rewarded for all of her hard work. Go get ‘em B,” she wrote at the time.
After leaving Fox News Channel, Kelly began aligning herself more closely with far-right commentators, including Kirk and Shapiro. But she’s also faced criticism from many on the far-right. Recently, she was criticized for not taking sides in the conflict between Owens and Kirk’s widow, Erika, who had asked Owens to stop spreading conspiracy theories about Charlie’s murder.
Last week, Kelly responded on her SiriusXM radio show: “Many of my viewers have been wondering why I haven’t said anything given my previous statements about Erika, and the reason is that I have been working behind the scenes to try to foster a detente between them,” Kelly said.
She added: “To the hateful people whom I used to call friends who have been all over the internet trying to shame me and say that no one should ever listen to this program again because I haven’t spoken out on the Erika and Candace conflict: I don’t have any pearls of wisdom other than go fuck yourselves. Go fuck yourselves.”
Meanwhile, Kelly told VF that Shapiro’s attack at AmericaFest “felt like a betrayal by a friend.”
“I was flabbergasted,” she added. “I thought, ‘Who do you think you are?’”
She continued: “It’s this very loud group of pro-Israel activists that is trying to make this the litmus test about whether you get to call yourself a conservative, and they lack standing to do that. Bari in particular has made her career on the anti-cancel culture thing. Meanwhile, she’s never been canceled. And she’s basically supporting Ben’s attempt to cancel me from the conservative movement, of which she’s not a part.”
On Friday, Weiss’ website, The Free Press, posted an adapted version of Shapiro’s speech with the headline: “Ben Shapiro: Only Cowards Tolerate Conspiracy Theorists.” After Weiss posted a link to the page, Kelly posted a response: “Only cowards take to the national stage or X to attack their ‘friends’ without so much as a phone call to discuss it. And also didn’t tag me bc she is afraid.”
At AmericaFest, Kelly continued her criticism of Shapiro while talking to VF: “Ben is Israel first … And I’m sorry, but his behavior has proven that charge to be correct. Why would you divide the American conservative movement — which was gelling, which was becoming much more cohesive for a moment after Charlie died — over Israel!”
She added that she isn’t going to cave to Shapiro’s demands that she denounce Owens, or anyone else he deems worthy of denouncing.
“I’m certainly not going to condemn the people Ben Shapiro demands I condemn in order to be in his imaginary club. ‘Denounce, denounce, condemn, disassociate.’ Fuck you!”
Meanwhile, Mark Levin, Kelly’s former colleague at Fox News, called out Kelly for her own remarks.
“Megyn Kelly is a disgusting fraud and hateful propagandist,” he posted on X on Monday. “She need not condemn Candace Owens. She is Candace Owens.”