Megyn Kelly addresses Matt Lauer's firing from 'Today'

Updated

Megyn Kelly opened her hour of the "Today" show on Wednesday morning by addressing the shocking development that colleague Matt Lauer had been fired from NBC News following a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."

In addressing the announcement about Lauer, Kelly focused on victims of sexual harassment in the workplace after saying that "this one does hit close to home."

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"I, too, have known Matt for a long time," she said. "He has been a friend, and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News."

"I see the anguish on my colleagues' faces," Kelly continued. "But when this happens, what we don’t see is the pain on the faces of those who found the courage to come forward. It is a terrifying thing to do. We don’t see the career opportunities women lose because of sexual harassment, or the intense stress it causes a woman dealing with it when she comes to work each day."

See photos of Megyn Kelly:

"I am thinking of those women this morning, and hoping they are okay," she added. "The days to come will not be easy."

Kelly famously played a role in the ousting of late FOX News head Roger Ailes last year after Gretchen Carlson came forward with her story of sexual harassment at the hands of Ailes. In her book, Settle for More, Kelly alleged that Ailes offered to advance her career in exchange for sexual favors, a repeated offer she denied.

In the year or so since, Kelly has been an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual misconduct and has welcomed a handful of women on her new morning show, "Megyn Kelly Today," to share their stories of sexual assault or harassment.

"We are in the middle of a sea change in this country, an empowerment revolution in which women who for years have felt they had no choice but to simply deal with being harassed at work are now starting to picture another reality, to feel that change is within their grasp," Kelly continued on Wednesday morning. "As painful as this moment is for so many here at NBC, Today, at CBS earlier this month, at FOX News over the last year, in Hollywood this fall, it is a sign of progress, of women finding their voices, their courage and of the erosion of a shameful power imbalance that has been in place for far too long."

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"I have been at another news channel where this happened, as you know," she finished, alluding to FOX News. "In my experiences, a news organization is bigger than any one person. They all face challenges, they all stumble, but the good ones stay standing and forge forward, fulfilling their core mission: journalism. We’ll continue to stay on this story and bring you more as we know it. Until then, on with the news."

Kelly's comments, which you can watch in the video at the top of the page, came hours after NBC News Chairman Andy Lack announced that the network had made the decision to let Lauer go after more than two decades. Fellow "Today" personalities Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb addressed the news earlier in Wednesday's episode, while other prominent celebrities like Andy Cohen, Gretchen Carlson, Chrissie Teigen and Rose McGowan took to Twitter to share their own reactions to the news.

How stars reacted to Matt Lauer's firing from "Today":

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