NBC executives who were not involved in the decision to hire former Fox News star Megyn Kelly are furious that she rakes in $23 million per year. These executives told the Daily Mail that they consider her paycheck a “slap in the face” to other stars at the network like Matt Lauer and Jimmy Fallon.
When Kelly joined NBC, the network undoubtedly hoped and thought that she would take many of her Fox News viewers with her. That proved not to be the case. Kelly’s audience at Fox News was Fox’s, not Kelly’s. This last Wednesday, for instance, Kelly’s morning show at NBC only had a 1.5 overall rating and a .08 rating among women 25 to 54.
As a result, NBC executives who played no role in her hiring are furious at their network and at Kelly for the deal that’ll cost NBC $69 million over a three-year period. One such executive told DailyMailTV: “This is insane! How on earth can they justify paying her $69 million for three years? It’s obscene and a giant slap in the face to all of NBC’s established stars. The network that created Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw and Matt Lauer will now forever be remembered for the $69 million hire of Megyn Kelly.”
The source went on to say that, if you include other costs like hiring the staff and promoting Kelly’s how, “this adds up to a $100 million mistake.”
Ouch.
Another source explains that he (or she) and his/her colleagues are also angry because NBC and Kelly initially lied about her salary. “What’s most annoying is that Megyn’s team and NBC proactively leaked that her salary sat in the range of $12 – $17 million when they knew this wasn’t the case,” the source complained. “Think about it – Fox News offered her $25 million a year for four years. There’s no way anyone would walk away from that type of money.”
A third source tells the Daily Mail: “Megyn’s salary should be nowhere near Matt’s. He’s been at NBC for 23 years now and has captained the ship through good times and bad times. He’s worked very hard to deserve that salary. Yet it’s an even bigger insult for Jimmy, Savannah, Hoda, Al, Lester and Kathie Lee who have all been great team players and have held their own and grown their audience for many years. Each of them should have their agents call NBC and demand huge increases to their salaries.”
Of course, it’s rather entertaining (and sad) that these executives are angry that Lauer had to work at the network for years and years and years in order to make his current salary — a whopping $25 million per year! — but they’ve obviously got a point when they argue that Kelly didn’t deserve this high paycheck. At all. Sure, she’s smart and talented, but there are many other smart and talented TV presenters out there — most of whom make significantly less than Kelly.
Add to that her abysmal ratings and you quickly realize that NBC has made a major, major mistake by stealing Kelly from Fox News… and Kelly, in turn, went wrong by turning her back on the network that made her big. This is especially true considering the fact that Fox News actually offered her $25 million per year if she’d stay.
That’s all sad for NBC and Megyn Kelly, of course, but I’ve got this feeling that at least one man is quite happy to read all of this.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member