Drama in conservative media land
Megyn Kelly's Friends and Fans Are Ditching Her
As Megyn Kelly spirals, observers are shaking their heads: She's ditching her fact-driven, inquisitive style for vendetta-fueled nonsense. This could torch her fanbase, with viewership dipping and ex-allies piling on the rebukes.
The hosts of The Fifth Column podcast (that's Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch for the uninitiated) have officially bailed on group appearances for The Megyn Kelly Show. They dropped this bombshell in a members-only livestream back in late December 2025, pinning it squarely on Kelly's eyebrow-raising chat with Tucker Carlson, the one where she gushed over far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes and tossed out comments slammed as antisemitic and anti-Israel?
The trio didn't mince words: This interview, plus Kelly's cozying up to some questionable vibes, was the last straw. That said, Kmele Foster's keeping the door cracked open for solo gigs if she calls.
But the hits keep coming: Dave Rubin, the ever-chill podcaster, has reciprocated by unfollowing Kelly on X (RIP Twitter). This after she ghosted him first in mid-December 2025.
Rubin played it cool on his show, shrugging it off with a "I've got plenty of friends" vibe, but come on—it's clearly a rift that's gone from professional to personal. The timing? Right amid Rubin's shade-throwing at Kelly's budding bromance with Candace Owens, who's been peddling wild conspiracy theories, like linking Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and Israel to the tragic death of activist Charlie Kirk. Baseless? Absolutely. Condemned? You bet, from all corners.
This whole mess is ripping open a massive schism on the American right—think conspiracy crackpots versus level-headed folks, with antisemitism and Israel smack in the middle. Megyn Kelly, once the queen of sharp, mainstream conservatism, has veered hard into Owens-and-Carlson territory. She's defending Owens' fire-starting rants and basically telling haters to buzz off (in more colorful language).
In that Carlson sit-down, praising a Holocaust-denying white nationalist like Fuentes and parroting anti-Israel clichés? That's lit a firestorm, especially among pro-Israel voices who see it as fanning dangerous flames. Critics are calling it straight: Kelly's lost the plot, chasing "edgy" clicks and alliances instead of sticking to her principled guns. It smells more and more like a bunch of personal grudges, snubs from Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, you name it, pushing her toward the "Granny Groyper" crowd.
As one sharp-tongued commentator nailed it, Kelly's morphing into the antithesis of what made her a star: from fiercely independent to "petty, vapid, and vengeful." This saga hits extra hard in pro-Israel circles, where her words are seen as amplifying ugly stereotypes just as Middle East tensions boil over.
Will Kelly pivot back to sanity or dig in deeper?
Time will tell, but with defections like Fifth Column and Rubin, it feels like a career crossroads. Stay tuned—conservative media's popcorn-worthy chaos shows no signs of slowing.