Leaked Staff Memo Alleges Megyn Kelly Today Is a ‘Toxic and Demeaning’ Place to Work
CelebritiesDirt BagAfter Kevin Bleyer was fired as head writer of Megyn Kelly Today, he forwarded a very long and very detailed email originally meant just for HR to a whole bunch of his former coworkers. Not long after, the email was leaked in full to The Daily Mail. It describes a “toxic” environment rife with bullying and abuse from executive-level employees, namely co-executive producers Jackie Levin and Christine Cataldi.
Bleyer, who used to work for The Daily Show, introduces the forwarded HR email with a message up top that reads, in part:
I wanted you to know you’re not alone. I was fighting the good fight up until the moment they took my badge away, and will continue to do so. Bullying and abusive behavior like hers should not go unchecked or unchallenged anywhere. I hope you’ll carry that torch within 30 Rock.
The original email starts off with a bang, describing the executives as incompetent and dysfunctional, adding that he has witnessed and experienced “abusive treatment, maddening hypocrisy, staggering inefficiencies, acidic and deficient communication, and relentless scapegoating.”
Before going into his detailed, day-by-day account of roughly three months of abuse, he kicks the show where it hurts, with this:
It is a special absurdity — and what some find a hard-to-swallow injustice — that as a team we’ve been lauded for covering harassment stories daily on air, while the staff producing those stories feels so embattled and bullied themselves.
Kelly herself is not named as an aggressor, and based on Bleyer’s detailed notes chronicling roughly three months of shitty treatment, her own work has suffered as a result of Levin and Cataldi’s alleged behavior. For example, he says she wasn’t receiving scripts on time because of what Bleyer describes as their “ignorance and incompetence.”
You can read the full email over at The Daily Mail. And for what it’s worth, NBC says all of this is a bunch of bullshit.
“Jackie and Christine are being attacked unfairly,” they said in a statement. “They are both excellent and experienced producers, and have the full support of everyone here.”
PUT ‘EM IN THE HOT SEAT, MEGYN.
Those of you who’ve seen All the Money In the World know three things: 1) That All the Money In the World sucked, 2) That Michelle Williams gives the best performance in it, and 3) That Mark Wahlberg gives the worst performance in it.
What’s funny is that, before the whole controversy surrounding their reshoot payments, Wahlberg was paid “nearly 10 times more” than Williams for the role. He made a cool $5 million, while she made $625,000.
As THR points out, they both have “roughly the same amount of screen time — and Williams is the one being pushed for an Oscar nomination.”
And I thought I couldn’t like that movie any less.
[THR]
Here. Take this:
- “So predictable. It’s up. It’s down. It’s intense. It’s SO extra.” [Lainey Gossip]
- “The role for women is to exercise their voices. The role for men is to listen and let women’s voices be heard and think about it.” – Robert Redford [Variety]
- The confusing lawsuit between Blac Chyna and the other Kardashians is over. I think?! [TMZ]
- Katy Perry’s being sued. Again. [ONTD]
- Katherine Heigl’s doing blog spon!!!! [Those Heavenly Days]