Roland Martin Believes Megyn Kelly’s Firing Wasn’t Based Soley Upon Her ‘Blackface’ Comments

Many have spoken out in support of NBC’s decision to cancel Megyn Kelly Today, following her controversial comments on blackface earlier this week. Among those who agree with the cancellation is Roland Martin. However, the journalist doesn’t believe that Kelly’s blackface comments were the only reason NBC decided to cut her show.

According to People, Martin publicly criticized Kelly for her earlier comments before coming on her show in an attempt to convey to her why he thought it was so important to promote an understanding of American history and the effect it still has on our nation today. He had hoped his words would not only change Kelly’s way of thinking, but also start a bigger conversation about respect concerning issues specific to race.

“The issue for me was I wasn’t having a conversation just with Megyn Kelly,” Martin told People. “I was having a conversation with the nation because there were things that need to be said that I did. I want Americans to stop being clueless about what has happened and deep, embedded history of race in this country and how it still impacts us today. We need to be trying to change that, rid ourselves of that instead of just ignore it, hope it goes away.”

Martin believes Kelly’s scandal was really just the straw that broke the camel’s back for NBC. The journalist said that Kelly clearly wasn’t a good fit for the network and they likely realized they had made a mistake in hiring her. Even before the controversy of the past week, many viewers had criticized NBC for allowing Kelly to take the morning slot that had once belonged to Al Roker and Tamron Hall. There was also criticism of the multi-million dollar salary they had awarded her with.

As far as whether or not Kelly listened to Martin’s comments earlier this week, the journalist isn’t certain.

“A person can hear it, can receive it. As I see it, the question is what do you do now? Where do you go from here? How do you then take this conversation to the next level,” he said.

Despite disagreeing with Kelly on many facets, Martin is still hopeful she will have a change of heart in the future. Although Kelly no longer has her show with NBC, she still has a wide platform in which she can choose to promote positive change in our nation.