Conservative media personality Megyn Kelly is spending serious time defending herself after being called a “sloppy influencer.”
Kelly caught heat for claiming that Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, who has been missing for nearly a month, could have been kidnapped by Savannah’s brother-in-law. Police in Arizona confirmed on Monday that all family members have been ruled out as suspects.
But her unfounded assertion caught the attention of former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who took a shot at Kelly and other online commentators in a segment on his NewsNation show discussing conspiracies about Guthrie’s disappearance.
While he never directly said Kelly’s name, he showed a picture of Kelly on Monday while he complained about “sloppy influencers and would-be sleuths” who are just looking for “clicks and ragebait” as they cover the Guthrie case.
Cuomo doubled down on his remarks on X, calling it “shameful to play this story for click bait,” in a response to a post from Kelly.
“dont know if this is payback for nbc paying kelly to GTFO but it is pretty obvious and ugly,” Cuomo said.
NBC News bought Kelly out of her contract in 2019, after she asked why wearing blackface during Halloween was wrong during an on-air segment in 2018.
In response to Cuomo’s segment, Kelly has devoted several parts of her Sirius XM show to defending herself as she and Cuomo are now in a back-and-forth, insult-laden feud.
On The Megyn Kelly Show this week, she accused Cuomo of being “jealous” of her and compared him to The Godfather character Fredo Corleone. The insult has long been a touchy subject for Cuomo, the younger brother of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In 2019, the younger Cuomo had a very public meltdown after a heckler hurled the insult at him. Cuomo later had to apologize for his behavior.
“Let me tell you what Fredo is really upset about. Fredo No-Rato, that’s his real problem. Nobody watches his show on NewsNation,” Kelly said. “Nobody watches his failed podcast either. Nobody watched his SiriusXM radio show. Nobody watched him on CNN.”
“And therefore, he gets upset at anybody who does well, like our show, which is always one of the top three conservative podcasts in the nation. It’s currently number one on Apple. Fredo doesn’t like that. Because, as I say, Fredo No-Rato. So he gets upset, and he gets jealous,” she continued.
Kelly additionally claimed that Cuomo had once called her attorney and “begged the lawyer to get me to stop mentioning him.”
“He didn’t want me to attack him, because it hurt his little feelings,” she said, adding that Cuomo is a “d-----bag.”
In a social media post responding to her insult-filled segment, Cuomo told Kelly to get over herself.
“Get over yourself, little hater. Odd language choice for a mom with young kids. Classy,” he said sarcastically.
Cuomo then compared Kelly to a cockroach as he responded to a post she made criticizing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Aoc is young and flawed but there is a reason she would stomp out kelly like a roach in any poll,” Cuomo said Tuesday. “Standing for something is better than being about nothing but hate. Remember - she was paid to leave nbc. No one was sad.”
Kelly hit back, writing, “Fredo, I know your thing is harassing women (runs in the family!) but your focus on me is getting creepy.” Kelly was referencing sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo’s brother, Andrew.
She also posted a video of her discussing sexual misconduct allegations that were made against Cuomo in 2021 with the caption “Probably wasn’t the best idea to poke the bear, Fredo.”
Cuomo shot back, writing, “You think you are the bear? Keep spewing. I will keep laughing at your feigned outrage… at everything and everyone that can get you clicks.”
