Megyn Kelly on Monday bashed left-leaning tech journalist Kara Swisher as a “bad person” for knocking the former Fox News anchor’s new media venture — and accused Swisher of reacting callously to the premature death of Kelly’s sister.
The host of SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” responded to criticism from Swisher in which she referred to Kelly as a “rage machine.”
“I think she’s just a rage machine, and she has a little act that she takes on the road, and screams at women — a lot of women,” Swisher said during a recent episode of the podcast “Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.”
“What is wrong with her?” Swisher added rhetorically.
Kelly fired back Monday: “What is wrong is I see you, and I hear you, and I see how nasty you are to everybody.”
Calling Swisher “a very tough, ballsy, openly lesbian woman,” Kelly noted that “she is literally known for like, walking away with people’s balls.”
Kelly’s new media venture includes podcasts from the likes of Mark Halperin, Maureen Callahan and Link Lauren.
The Sirius/XM host also recounted an incident involving Swisher’s reaction to canceling an interview with her following the death of Kelly’s sister from a heart attack at age 58.
According to Kelly, she notified Swisher’s assistant five days in advance, saying: “MK has had something personal happen, something personal came up, and she’s not going to be able to make it.”
Swisher responded directly, according to Kelly, saying: “Oh, that sounds like a good idea and I certainly hope she’ll stay off X in the meantime.”
Upon clarification that Kelly’s sister had passed away, Swisher quickly retreated, replying, “Oh, well I was only joking. I was only joking, you know, sorry.”
Kelly expressed disgust at Swisher’s reaction, asserting, “I’m sorry, but she’s a bad person! Did she ever send me a note? Did she ever say, ‘I’m so sorry about your sister’?”
Reflecting on the incident, Kelly stated she initially remained open to interacting despite their political differences but was deeply hurt by Swisher’s perceived insensitivity.
“She tries to cover her own ass because she knows she’s now made herself look terrible,” Kelly concluded, emphasizing that her opinion of Swisher had significantly deteriorated since then.
“From that point forward, all she’s done is rip on me, and frankly, vice versa. I mean, I just see her very differently now. I think she’s a bad person.”
Kelly also accused Swisher of aggressively targeting Silicon Valley executives, saying: “If you are an executive in Silicon Valley that sits with her, you know she’s going to try to leave with your jugular, that’s what she’s known for.”
“It’s a mystery in Silicon Valley why people continue to sit down with her,” Kelly said of Swisher.
“Elon [Musk] hates her guts. All she does is rip on Elon night and day.”
Kelly then challenged Swisher’s track record on women’s issues, stating, “I will put my record of protecting women up against Kara Swisher’s any day of the week. In fact, I can’t think of a single thing Kara Swisher’s ever done for women at all. Except what? Support abortion rights. That’s probably what she’s thinking.”
The Post has sought comment from Swisher.