Megyn Kelly says she pulled her children from private schools for going 'hard left' with 'social justice stuff'
Megyn Kelly removed her children from private school because administrators “took a really hard turn toward social justice stuff," the former Fox News host told Bill Maher on Friday.
While appearing on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Kelly revisited her November decision to pull her children, Edward, 11, and Thatcher 7, and Yardley, 9, whom she shares with husband Douglas Brunt, from their elite private schools in New York City.
“The schools have always been far-left, which doesn’t align with my own ideology, but I didn’t really care, most of my friends are liberals, it’s fine," she said that month on her podcast The Megyn Kelly Show. "I come from Democrats as a family. I’m not offended at all by the ideology, and I lean center-left on some things.” Kelly also cited a blog post she said traveled through the parent community, allegedly at the suggestion of the school, titled If You Really Want to Make a Difference in Black Lives, Change How You Teach White Kids. “But they’ve gone around the bend. They have gone off the deep end," she said.
During her Real Time appearance, Kelly admitted that she loved her children's schools which were "definitely leftist" compared to her "center right" views. "But then they went hard left," she told Maher. "Then they started to take a really hard turn toward social justice stuff." Kelly described a "three-week experimental trans education program" that took place in her son's third-grade class. "And it wasn't about support," she said. "We felt it was more about trying to convince them, like, 'come on over.' And the boys started to get confused." Kelly said that she and other parents objected, which prompted an apology from the school.
"Then our kindergartener was told to write a letter to the Cleveland Indians objecting to their mascot," said Kelly. "Now, he's 6! Can he learn how to spell Cleveland before we activate him?" In December, the pro-baseball team announced it would change its name after pressure from Native American organizations which called the term racist. The team has not yet settled on a new name.
"He's got things to worry about other than social activism," said Kelly of her son. "And if he's going to be activated, Doug and I should do it. Not a kindergarten teacher. Didn't run it by us."
Maher said he's heard parents complain, "My kids are not ready to be told they're white supremacists" and read aloud from the blog post, published on Education Post, part of which read, "There’s a killer cop sitting in every school where White children learn." Maher said the message was "hyperbole."
Kelly added, "It's divisive, it's racist and it's having exactly the opposite effect of the one they intend." She added, "And then the white people feel bad and feel judged because they're told they're white supremacists because of a pigmentation over which they have no control." The podcast host said the teaching style was pervasive throughout the city and "there was no place to move [her children] in New York to get away from this."
Maher said, “Again, I’m with you. Of course we should all acknowledge that there is racism in this country, and we have a horrible, sorry history. We don’t have an exactly horrible, sorry present, certainly as much as it was in the past. That doesn’t mean there’s not lots of work to do, and we should do it, but don’t gaslight me…I feel like this is beyond race. I feel like it’s a generational thing where so many people want their identity wrapped up being a victim.”
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