Despite a report last October suggesting otherwise, the rumors circulating around Fox News personality Megyn Kelly’s potential departure from the cable news behemoth just won’t quit. Even in the face of a price tag of $20 million (or more), rival news outlets are supposedly still vying for the Kelly File host’s affections. And if the latest Vanity Fair report proves true, then one of these players may have put some serious cards on the table.
According to Sarah Ellison, whose coverage of Kelly’s professional aspirations for Vanity Fair have fueled months of rampant speculation, network executives reneged on an insider’s previous claim and approached her with a “recruitment” video:
Within the last month, according to a person familiar with the discussions, ABC has renewed, and perhaps sweetened, its effort to woo Kelly. At one point, in an overture, Kelly was shown a recruitment presentation depicting the so-called legends of ABC, which started, oddly enough, with an image of Willy Wonka, and ended with one of Kelly.
Willy Wonka’s inclusion notwithstanding, Ellison followed up with representatives for ABC and Kelly who both vehemently denied the report. “As much as we appreciate and admire Megyn Kelly’s talents, this is simply not true,” remarked an unnamed Disney-ABC Television spokesperson. “There has never been an offer of any job, and therefore there is nothing that could be sweetened. End of story.” Likewise, Kelly’s spokesperson Leslee Dart noted “people can parse language any way they want” while boasting that Kelly “[had] been presented with more opportunities than ever before.”
The news of ABC’s apparent move on Kelly arrives on the heel’s of a report from last week indicating CNN’s renewed interest in the matter. Allegedly CNN president Jeff Zucker was “actively pursuing” Kelly for a daily evening anchor gig on the Fox News rival, though the money being discussed apparently wasn’t enough to catch her eye. Kelly subsequently denied the claim on Twitter, saying readings “[shouldn’t] believe a thing [you] hear unless it comes from me.”
Whether or not Kelly ultimately decides to stick with Fox News remains to be seen, especially since she’s been busy promoting her book and ignoring Kathy Griffin’s heckling. As for why ABC’s rumored recruitment video included Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka character in it… who knows? (Hopefully it was Gene Wilder’s classic iteration, and not Johnny Depp‘s creepier version.)
(Via Vanity Fair)