Megyn Kelly Abruptly Cut Off Tom Brokaw’s Attempt To Speak Out Against The NRA While Discussing Gun Violence

Update: Tom Brokaw later explained to the Washington Post that technical difficulties prevented him from hearing the commercial break: “The acoustics in the studio were terrible. I didn’t have an IFB [earpiece], and I am writing as I return from my hearing-aid mechanic. My hearing aid this morning went bad as the show started. “Chick Hearn, the late, great L.A. Lakers play-by-play announcer had a phrase: no harm, no foul. Exactly the case this a.m. No harm, no foul. Not worth any fuss. I’m a Kelly fan.”

Amid the news of the mass shooting tragedy in Las Vegas on Monday, Megyn Kelly was bumped by NBC for her hour of Megyn Kelly Today in favor of day-long, in-depth coverage of the massacre. On Tuesday, Kelly was back, and despite the former Fox News host’s claims that she’s “kind of done with politics for now,” the news is kind of hard to ignore, and as such, Kelly hosted a town hall style conversation to discuss the hot button topic of gun control.

Kelly was joined by NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw, among others, and towards the end of the segment an audience member had a question for the seasoned journalist about whether or not he thinks wall-to-wall news coverage of these types of tragedies are harmful to those watching at home.

Brokaw answered the question, pulling no punches with his stance on the NRA’s role in preventing gun control. “Well I would say to this audience, and any audience that I appear before these days, we are where we are because of the power of people who wanted these kind of guns and the NRA managed to organize them and get them as a political force in America.”

So the question is,” Brokaw continued, “If you’re not happy with what has happened, your individual obligation as a citizen is to organize on the other side. And that’s possible as well, the NRA has a lot of money, obviously, and if you’re running against the NRA, and a lot of the Western congressional districts for example, you’re portrayed as a traitor to America. You know, you’re not in favor of people having weapons, and that’s after all how the country started — we’re a long way away from that Second Amendment–”

At that point, Kelly bluntly interrupted Brokaw by saying, “Yep. Got it. Gotta leave it at that, Tom.” As Brokaw attempted to finish his thought, Kelly spoke over him thanking the panel, and claiming to be up against a hard break. While that may or may not have been the truth, the manner in which she interrupted him was jarring, and reminiscent of her days at Fox News.

Many were quick to pick up on the incident, and took to Twitter to slam Kelly for disrespecting Brokaw:

https://twitter.com/pblexis/status/915214784282447872

https://twitter.com/rebegirl/status/915218566491680769

https://twitter.com/notouchingever/status/915217641786171393

https://twitter.com/colleentweets37/status/915216600046989312

https://twitter.com/Oh_EmmaGee/status/915219902922985473

Kelly had an uphill battle to win over a mainstream audience thanks to her history at Fox News to begin with, and between this and some of the initial controversy she faced after her debut last week, she doesn’t seem to be helping her case.