Megyn Kelly: 'I heard rumors' about Matt Lauer, but 'I hear a lot of rumors about myself'

Megyn Kelly, NBC News anchor and host of “Megyn Kelly Today,” said that she wasn’t aware that Matt Lauer was about to be fired. Lauer, the longtime host of “Today” and a new colleague of Kelly, was terminated Wednesday by NBC News, which cited evidence of “inappropriate sexual behavior.”

“I had heard rumors about Matt, but that’s all,” Kelly said, speaking at Business Insider’s Ignition 2017 media conference Wednesday in New York. She added, “I hear a lot of rumors about myself that aren’t true.”

Kelly more vividly described the sexual harassment of her by Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, who was terminated by the cable news network last year. “It culminated with him being with me physically,” Kelly recalled. “He tried to grab me three times… The third time, he asked me when my contract was up.”

At the time, Kelly said, she said it was pointless to bring her harassment claims to HR at Fox News, because the organization “was controlled by the CEO, Ailes, who was my harasser.”

She said companies are “bleeding awesome talent” because they are failing to address sexual harassment in the workplace, but sees a bright spot in women coming forward to publicly challenge men who are abusing their positions of power. “I don’t want to say the culture has changed, but it is changing,” she said, “We never would have thought Roger Ailes would be fired by Fox News, never.”

Regarding the ratings of her NBC show, Kelly said that “NBC has put zero pressure on me,” saying her show is “like a 9-week-old baby” that is still finding its voice.

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