Megyn Kelly OK With Blackface, But Not Black Santa

Although she's no longer on Fox News, NBC host Megyn Kelly has brought the network's racially insensitive rhetoric with her.

Tuesday on Megyn Kelly Today, while discussing if wearing blackface on Halloween is appropriate (it isn't), Kelly defended the practice, which is linked to centuries of mocking black people for white entertainment.

"But what is racist?" said the host, who frequently struggles to identify when her own behavior can be described as such. "You truly do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween."

She went on to say that blackface was not offensive when she was a child, and contended that TheReal Housewives of New York City'sLuann de Lesseps should not have come under fire when she used dark makeup for her Diana Ross costume.

"Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character," Kelly continued. "People said that was racist, and I don't know, I felt like, who doesn't love Diana Ross? She wanted to look like Diana Ross for one day. I don't know how that got racist on Halloween."

However, Kelly has been very vocal that Santa Claus is white, and offended when black people dress up as the mythical character.

"Yet another person claiming it's racist to have a white Santa. By the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white," she on her Fox News show on 2013. "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change ... Jesus was a white man too. He's a historical figure, that's a verifiable fact, as is Santa. I just want kids to know that. How do you reverse it in the middle of the legacy and change the story and change Santa from white to black?"

Apparently, Diana Ross's legacy is not as important or genuine as the tale of Santa (who is based on a man from Turkey) or of Middle Eastern Jew Jesus Christ.

After facing outrage for her comments, Kelly apologized.

"Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including from friends and colleagues, is leading me to rethink my own views," she wrote in an internal letter obtained by The Hill."I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep."

Kelly told colleagues that sensitivity is necessary.

"I've never been a 'pc' kind of person -- but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age," she concluded. "Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year. This is a time for more understanding, love, sensitivity and honor, and I want to be part of that."