Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity bury the hatchet, much to media’s chagrin

Fox News stars Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity ended a public spat in a series of Tweets last night referring to their shared heritage.

We’re Irish. It’s complicated. #friends pic.twitter.com/MRkimEuLMr

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) October 7, 2016

{mosads}The relatively minor feud received major publicity on Wednesday night and Thursday after Kelly, a 9:00 p.m. host on the network, said Donald Trump was only doing safe interviews with Hannity, the 10 p.m. host.

“Donald Trump, with all due respect to my friend at 10:00, will go on Hannity and pretty much only Hannity and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days, which doesn’t exactly expand the tent,” Kelly said.

Hannity responded later Wednesday on Twitter, accusing Kelly of being a Clinton supporter.

@megynkelly u should be mad at @HillaryClinton Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u. https://t.co/vsQiNMgHut

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 6, 2016

 

The disagreement was considered so monumental that even “ABC World News Tonight” covered it during its broadcast on an evening when a Category 4 hurricane is targeting Florida and the East Coast and a presidential election is less than five weeks away.

Vox also felt a need to explain said disagreement to those who don’t know how to properly process disagreements:

Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity’s feud over Donald Trump, explained https://t.co/mpA6jjbryL

— Vox (@voxdotcom) October 6, 2016

The Hollywood Reporter even used the W word: “Fox News War: Sean Hannity Calls Out Megyn Kelly for Hillary ‘Support'”

In all, basically every major media outlet covered this story with the kind of hyperbole one would expect when marinated in schadenfreude.

However, some media members aren’t convinced the two highly rated hosts — without any evidence or statements to the contrary, of course — patched matters on their own. Because, you know, that ruins a perfectly good narrative they planned to run for the next 18 weeks and stuff.

Bestselling author Molly Knight:

@seanhannity @mattdpearce @megynkelly you publicly accused her of supporting someone you think is the devil Sean how is that minor

— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) October 7, 2016

CNN’s Dylan Byers:

I guess there were some meetings at 1211 avenue of the americas today…. https://t.co/hF9t79NLJo

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2016

Politico’s Ben White:

Any doubt in anyone’s mind that Hannity and Kelly hate each other like poison?

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) October 7, 2016

Myles Khan, Executive Producer of “Full Frontal” with Samantha Bee on TBS:

Hey Kelly, Hannity. THIS is how you fake liking each other. pic.twitter.com/RyMiFbTuhP

— Miles Kahn (@mileskahn) October 7, 2016

Los Angeles Times’ Matt Pearce:

Lord give us a TV network where the giant personalities are allowed to publicly hate each other.

— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) October 7, 2016

Radio host Michael Castner:

Ha! And I believe everything @seanhannity says https://t.co/86fEWryrPq

— Michael Castner (@MichaelCastner) October 7, 2016

Former Fox News contributor and current Huffington Post reporter Michelle Fields:

when fox PR puts you in detention https://t.co/A3fccKLlcy

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) October 7, 2016

In researching any other public spats between Hannity and Kelly that may have occurred to lead those questioning a friendship and/or mutual respect even exists, nothing comes up. In a related story, Kelly and Hannity have worked together for 12 years.

As for being ordered to make up, is it really that far out of the realm of possibility to believe two hosts who share the same 12th floor studio with programs on back-to-back couldn’t just do this on their own?

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and network contributor George Will had a far more intense disagreement this year, with “The Factor” host calling Will “a hack” to his face (via satellite) on national television. In another related story, the two never made up because maybe — just a guess — management didn’t “order it” because disagreement and candor between colleagues can make for good content.

Megyn doesn’t care very much for the way Hannity handles Trump in interviews.

Hannity didn’t care very much for Kelly’s opinion on the matter.

I mean, really, can you believe two people paid to give opinions actually gave an opinion on something regarding this otherwise-tranquil election?

It would be nice to see this happen more at Fox News and other networks instead of the usual backstabbing (and it’s widespread) that occurs.

Media is more part of the story than ever before.

And if this election has taught us anything, it’s that authenticity and candor are appreciated.

Concha is a media reporter for The Hill.

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