Rosie O’Donnell Fires Back at Megyn Kelly Over Russell Brand Remarks

The exchange followed a post by comedian D.L. Hughley, who shared an image of Kelly’s comments and captioned it, “Wow just wow!!” Other commenters also criticized the journalist, with some describing her as “unhinged” and “vile.”

The latest clash adds to years of public sparring between O’Donnell and Kelly. In July, Kelly discussed Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pandemic diary entries on “The Megyn Kelly Show.” Her guest, Mike Davis, called Fauci a “mass murderer” and “one of the worst criminals in our history”; Kelly said she did not consider that description too harsh. In an earlier episode, Kelly said Fauci had hurt “a lot more people than Epstein did.” O’Donnell responded to a headline about the comparison by calling Kelly a “dumb syncophant – woman hating witch.”

Kelly also criticized O’Donnell in June, after the comedian was announced as a guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during Jimmy Kimmel’s annual summer break. Kelly accused Kimmel of choosing “people who are lesser than he is” and mocked O’Donnell, referring to her as an “insurrectionist.”

Their disputes reach back to Kelly’s 2018 interview with Jane Fonda on “Megyn Kelly Today.” Fonda later called Kelly’s question about her plastic surgery “inappropriate” and said it showed Kelly was “not that good an interviewer.” Kelly responded by criticizing Fonda, and O’Donnell tweeted that Kelly was a “moron” and a “spineless wanna be barbie.”

The two were also linked in the 2015 Republican presidential debate, when Donald Trump answered Kelly’s question about his derogatory remarks toward women by saying, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”