Megyn Kelly’s defense of Donald Trump’s most controversial White House Correspondents’ Dinner moment came at the expense of a cardinal rule of comedy. The MAGA podcaster explained why she believes the president’s joke about Kaitlan Collins actually worked.
Megyn Kelly defends Donald Trump’s joke on Kaitlan Collins
Megyn Kelly defended Donald Trump’s joke about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, The Daily Beast reported. The MAGA podcaster insisted the joke comparing Collins to transgender actress Dylan Mulvaney was funny. She also broke a cardinal rule of comedy by trying to explain why the joke worked.
Kelly argued the comparison put liberals in a difficult position during her Monday show. “It’s clever because it puts the left in such a difficult position… because they have to say that’s not complimentary. So they have to rip on a trans person, which they definitely don’t want to do,” Kelly told conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson. She repeated her reasoning, stating Trump forced critics to call the Mulvaney comparison insulting.
The former NBC News host additionally tried to justify Trump’s swipes at the CNN journalist. “She’s always nasty. She’s always making negative commentary about him,” Kelly said about Collins. She then claimed Trump “did what all presidents do” and simply “gave her a little jazz.” Kelly also blamed the joke’s poor reception on the audience of journalists at the dinner.
Her guest Hanson backed her defense, saying the crowd “only laugh when somebody that they despise is on the other end.” Trump had singled out Collins during his widely panned speech at Friday night’s dinner. He complained about her award win and told the 34-year-old anchor she should smile.
The president meanwhile doubled down on his attacks against Collins on Sunday. He used AI to overlay the anchor’s face on an image of Mulvaney from a 2023 Bud Light promotional video. Mulvaney responded by posting a video saying she was “incredibly honored to be compared” to Collins. The CNN star subsequently appeared on The Daily Show Monday night as a guest of Jon Stewart.
