Megyn Kelly is under fire after she made an insensitive comparison while reacting to the president’s State of the Union shouting match.
The former Fox News host on Wednesday compared Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, 43, to “that Tourette’s syndrome guy at the BAFTAs,” after Omar refused to stand during Trump’s tirade on illegal immigrants and shouted, “You kill Americans.”
“She never stopped heckling him,” Kelly said about Omar, repeating that “it was like the guy at the BAFTAs... yelling f--k you, go f--k yourself and some worse things than that.”
The incident at the BAFTA Film Awards that Kelly, 55, referred to on The Megyn Kelly Show drew major backlash, as Tourette’s syndrome campaigner John Davidson involuntarily called Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo the N-word while they were presenting an award—a moment the BBC left unbleeped.
Davidson has since said that he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning,” and BAFTA issued a statement claiming to take “full responsibility” and apologizing directly to Jordan and Lindo, as well as “all those impacted” by the broadcast of the unedited racial slur.
“These symptoms are neurological, not intentional,” CEO of Tourettes Action, Emma McNally, said about the Monday incident at the awards show.
By comparing the BAFTA incident to Omar’s intentional shouting at the president—who has previously called her “garbage” and said she should “go back” to Somalia, which she fled as a child due to civil war—Kelly conflated a medical condition with a deliberate act of protest.
“She should be censored, she should absolutely face discipline in the House as a result of this,” Kelly said about Omar, adding that the congresswoman was “incapable of controlling her foul mouth.”
On X, Kelly faced backlash for the comments with one user writing, “You just spew hate and push your MAGA crap.”
Another added, “Her foul mouth??? Look who’s talking!!!!!”
Omar’s comments about the president most likely referred to the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis during aggressive enforcement operations earlier this year.
“You should be ashamed,” Omar shouted at the president on Tuesday.
Trump responded to Omar on Truth Social on Wednesday with a deranged post that also targeted Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents and became the first Muslim woman elected to Congress.
The president—who earlier this month posted a racist video of former president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama—called the two Muslim representatives “Low IQ,” and said that during his speech, “they had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized.”
Omar arrived in the U.S. in 1995 and has been a citizen since 2000, while Tlaib was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Omar for comment.
