Sally Field’s apology for her whiteness drew a withering response Monday from journalist and podcast host Megan Kelly, who called the actress’s words “pathetic” and “baloney.”
On the latest episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the host tore into the 76-year-old star, asking why she said she was “sorry for being a little White girl with privilege” at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards.
“She’s very sorry about one thing and that appears to be the fact that she’s White,” Ms. Kelly said before playing the clip of Ms. Field accepting a lifetime-achievement award from the guild.
“I was a little White girl with a pug nose born in Pasadena, California. And when I look around this room tonight, I know my fight, as hard as it was, was lightweight compared to some of yours. I thank you. And I applaud you,” Ms. Field said.
Ms. Kelly then went into sarcasm mode in interacting with guests Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla on her Sirius XM’s program.
“News flash, White girls in America don’t have any troubles that are worth remembering when you’re in front of a group that has a lot of people of color,” Ms. Kelly said. “It’s such baloney, Dr. Drew. It’s such pathetic, obvious virtue signaling.”
Ms. Kelly then suggested an alternate speech Ms. Field could have given about the real struggles actresses faced, especially when Ms. Field was a rising star in the 1960s and 70s.
“Sally Field could get up there and say ‘I came up in the industry where the casting couch … was alive and well. That’s why we produced people like Harvey Weinstein,” she added.
She suggested that Ms. Field could have stayed “true to her personality” by saying something like “Too many women from Marilyn Monroe forward have had to be subjected to that nonsense in order to get on the big screen. So I’m grateful for the opportunities that I created for myself and I nailed them. I did really well and I feel good about it.”
But, Ms. Kelly continued, “no.”
“She’s basically got to be like ‘I’m the little White girl from Pasadena and I basically suffered nothing like you people did here in this room.’ How does she know? It’s so diminishing to people of color who are in the room. She just assumes that they are all oppressed? Why should she assume that they’ve all had it so bad?” Ms. Kelly said.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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