Last night's episode of 'The Kelly File' featured Megyn's recent interview of Al Sharpton. The conversation ranged from his 2016 presidential endorsement, to issues of racism and the D.O.J., as well as Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter. An unfortunate comment made by Sharpton detracted from the valid argument he was making.
Several times during the exchange, Megyn Kelly repeated that the D.O.J.'s findings, which exonerated Ferguson P.D. officer, Darren Wilson, should suffice to convince Sharpton that justice was served. She fails to mention the D.O.J.'s findings of widespread racism practiced by the Ferguson PD, and only relies on the report for questions of culpability.
The discussion heats up and Kelly more or less demands that Sharpton apologize for his assertions that Wilson did NOT act in self-defense. Kelly wants him to consider poor Darren Wilson. Obviously, his is the only life that mattered to her.
KELLY: A man's life is ruined. I mean Darren Wilson, Darren Wilson has no job, he has no life, he hasn't been rehired. Do you bear some responsibility?
Reverend Al tries to explain that these 'infallible' findings could be incomplete, and he spoke with many witnesses who saw a much different scene that August day in 2014. There's no shortage of controversy with the findings, as inconsistencies with police accounts were revealed. He explains that he is still permitted to express an opinion that is contrary to the report. His show is based solely on his take on the issues. Kelly claims that she is a journalist, unlike Sharpton. However, there's scores of examples right here where she injects her own opinion while being a journalist.
The Kelly File host goads him into a condemnation of President Obama's D.O.J. He repeats that his comments were a reflection of his opinion and he's entitled to that. He does not intend to apologize for his opinions. Kelly insinuates that for the DOJ to find Wilson innocent here, people would have had to lie to federal agents. They are more likely to lie to Sharpton. Then, this happened:
KELLY: It can be a crime to lie to an FBI agent, it's not a crime to lie to Reverend Al.
SHARPTON: (at the 3:00 mark above) Megyn, calm down.
KELLY: Now watch it with 'calm down.'
SHARPTON: Is something wrong with that?
KELLY: Ask Bill O'Reilly about that, I had to lecture him on that one himself.
Even though she was vociferously adamant about making her point, there's really no need to go there. If a man tells a woman to 'calm down,' the assumption is that she's an hysterical female, representative of her gender. Sharpton didn't even realize the sexism of his comment. That's perhaps worse than the fact he said it at all.
