Castmembers from Netflix’s political series were due to appear on Wednesday’s show.
The cast of Netflix’s House of Cards has pulled out of a scheduled appearance on Megyn Kelly Todayfollowing her controversial blackface comments made on air this week.
A Netflix spokesperson confirmed that several castmembers from the Netflix political drama were scheduled to appear on the NBC show, the 9 a.m. hour of Today, on Wednesday, but canceled last-minute. Kelly hosted a panel of speakers discussing the blackface issue instead. NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
House of Cards’ Robin Wright and Michael Kelly and showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese had been promoting the sixth and final season of the Netflix show the week prior to their scheduled appearance on Today in New York. The majority of the cast attended the Los Angeles premiere on Monday night.
Kelly faced intense backlash after her comments on Tuesday’s edition of her show about wearing blackface as part of Halloween costumes. “What is racist?” she discussed with panelists. “Because truly you 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. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character.”
Kelly apologized in an email to colleagues later that day, saying, “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.”
The host reiterated that apology on air Wednesday at the top of her show. “I want to begin with two words: I’m sorry,” said Kelly. “I was wrong, and I am sorry. One of the great parts of sitting in this chair is getting to discuss different points of view. Sometimes I talk and sometimes I listen, and yesterday I learned. I learned given the history of blackface being used in awful ways by racists in this country, it is not OK for that to be part of any costume, Halloween or otherwise.”
House of Cards has faced its own scrutiny heading into its final season due to the scandal surrounding former star Kevin Spacey. The actor and executive producer was fired mid-production over sexual assault allegations and Kelly heavily covered the news at the time on her show.
Meanwhile, the host is expected to end her 9 a.m. show hour by the end of the season, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter, as Kelly meets with executives to work out the future of her show.
