Just want to add a clarification about Megyn Kelly, not that it matters much. But this is, for once, something I can speak about where I may have an informed perspective. I worked on that show for almost a year, from before it went on air in late Sept 2017 until August 2018.
Megyn Kelly Today took over the 9am time slot of an extremely popular hour of the Today show, but the format for MKT was almost the polar opposite. Her sober and introspective news-topical chat segments supplanted a exuberant and silly morning romp revolving around pop culture. It was a difficult fit, but NBC News was invested $$$$ into her. Ratings were horrible at first, but she really hit her stride with her coverage of #MeToo. Which led directly, exactly 8 weeks after she went live, to NBC firing Matt Lauer - the personality who had nearly single-handedly kept the Today show where it was in the ratings, and where it was in the finances. Matt basically kept NBC news solvent, from what I've read. Matt's popularity was an insurance policy against financial distress - but with him gone, the Megyn Kelly hour's costs became a huge sink that couldn't be ignored. Nobody wanted to site through the live show, they had to resort to audience giveaways to get people into the seats.
During the Olympics in February 2018 the 10 o'clock hour was also aired from the same studio with a live audience. They didn't have any trouble filling seats at that point. The executives wanted to keep producing the 10 o'clock from 6A with the live audience instead of the closed studio at street level where they normally were, but it wasn't going to happen logistically or financially. Too bad, since it worked *really* well. Say what you will about Kathie Lee, but she's a first-rate entertainer and that live audience every morning set her on fire.
After the Olympics it was back to normal programming, but at least the giveaways were enough incentive to get live people into the audience. The MKT show was on a sort of autopilot, but most people could tell that it was just a matter of time before they would have to shake things up somehow. NBC made a big bet on Megyn Kelly, and it was already clear by Spring 2018 that the bet wasn't going to pay off.
Megyn Kelly had had other gaffes before, but the black-face comment was - in my personal opinion - a convenient way for NBC to try to resurrect something of the 9 o'clock hour. The blackface comment wouldn't have gotten her dumped during her coverage of #MeToo, nor would it have gotten her dumped in the first couple of months. But with that hour of the show dragging down the ratings of the popular 10 o'clock Hoda & Kathie Lee hour, it was the right reason at the right time (if not past time) to cut her off.
All of this is happening against a larger background of shrinking budgets, shrinking revenue, Comcast corporate belt-tightening (i.e.widespread labor restructuring and cuts). I wouldn't read too much into the Exec decision to cut her for the comment. If they had wanted to keep her on, they would have.
I was never in the loop on any decision-making on that show, so I am only speaking as someone who worked in the building, on that one show specifically, but would hear (and read) things that were rumored to have been said by the people that mattered. I may be wrong about much of this, since I had no specific knowledge of the show beyond what was required for my particular duties.
Ok, back to the Parade...
