To be clear, which we repeat several times on this week’s episode of Show Your Work, Megyn Kelly’s blackface comments last week were gross and the fact that she claims she didn’t know is gross and all of it is gross. That said, Megyn Kelly’s time at NBC, how she got there, and how all that led up to why she’s leaving there, is a work conversation involving more people than just Megyn Kelly.
The Hollywood Reporter published an opinion piece earlier this week about NBC News chairman Andy Lack’s responsibility in the situation. He and his team made a work decision to hire Megyn. They’ve made a work decision to cancel her. They are currently still working to negotiate her exit. And, reportedly, one of the sticking points is that she’s refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which complicates an ugly situation even more because NDAs have been used as tools to silence women, as revealed when the #MeToo movement went mainstream last year. Duana and I try to unpack all of this during our discussion and we look back on our past coverage of Megyn Kelly and examine whether or not our analysis holds up.
Megyn Kelly will be walking away from NBC with millions – right now the argument is over just how many millions. So, basically, she’s not worrying about money. There is, however, an entertainment industry middle class that IS worrying about money because recent changes in the entertainment ecosystem, while lucrative for some, are not at all lucrative for many others, perhaps most others. As viewers, Peak TV has meant better content, more options, really great programming. But the consequence of that has resulted in “massive income inequality”. This Fast Company article about the “death of Hollywood’s middle class” is a fascinating read about the Netflix effect on writers and actors – not the superstars but everyone else which… is basically everyone else. Duana and I unpack how “everyone else” makes a living and why it’s harder to make a living. And where all of this is heading. (Here’s the Vanity Fair article about the “end of the writers’ room” that Duana references during this block.)
Finally, there is a new way to make a living in Hollywood. A new job has been created: the intimacy coordinator. Rolling Stone profiled Alicia Rodis, Hollywood’s pioneer intimacy coordinator and her work, pardon the pun, is sexy as f-ck. It also gives us an opportunity to talk about the work that goes into the sex and how her work will only make the sex better.
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