Debra Messing regrets Megyn Kelly Today – Will & Grace appearance

Megyn Kelly Today -- Will & Grace

On Monday the cast of Will & Grace were some of the first guest on Megyn Kelly Today — and it was awkward to say the least.

In what was one of the most cringe-worthy moments of the entire broadcast, Kelly (who is now on NBC in the mornings following her time at Fox News / Sunday nights on NBC this summer) had a strange exchange with superfan Russell Turner where she asked him if he became a lawyer — and if he was gay — as a result of seeing Will on the show. He responded with good humor and was gifted with tickets to a taping of the show.

However, the remark was a little unsettling to some, and it led to series star Debra Messing being asked about it in the comment section of the Instagram post below. She responded with the following:

“Honestly I didn’t know it was MK until that morning … The itinerary just said Today Show appearance. Regret going on. Dismayed by her comments.”

Do we think that Kelly was probably trying to joke around? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean she should’ve told the joke in the first place. More than that, she has to try and figure out what sort of voice she wants to have and what sort of host she wants to be in her new daytime environment with the history that she has. One of the baffling things to us about the entire decision by NBC to bring her on board was if they thought many viewers would have selective memory as her history of controversy over at Fox News. This is an extremely divisive time, and people tend to remember when someone says or does something that they don’t like. The problem here for her is that many conservatives don’t like her, either, following the way that she left — basically, Kelly is in a position where she doesn’t really have anyone in her corner. She’s too liberal for conservatives, and also too conservative for liberals. She claims that she doesn’t want her new show to be political, but she’s done so much political content in the past that you can’t entirely move away from it.

As for Messing and the Will & Grace cast, we have a hard time thinking that they really needed to do this appearance in the first place given that the excitement around them coming back on TV is so high. It’s not going to be the ratings monster it once was, but it should provide a significant lift to NBC and a comedy lineup that needs a little more love.

Take a look at the video below of the incident in question — what do you think about the way that it was handled? Sound off in the comments!

Also, check out our CarterMatt Facebook Page for some more TV updates send right to you. (Photo: NBC.)

Snack time! #presstour

A post shared by Debra Messing (@therealdebramessing) on

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