SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on his show Wednesday that the push for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has “created more of a divide” between races in the U.S.
Over the years, DEI initiatives have expanded into both the education and business sectors, with the Biden-Harris administration allocating over a trillion dollars to implement the agenda across federal agencies. On “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Smith asked Kelly about her opposition to DEI.
“If this nation — whether it’s corporate America or beyond — was exercising fairness and truly looking for the best candidates and not engaging in favoritism that favored primarily white males then there would have never been any need for DEI,” Smith said. “Just like there would not have been any need for affirmative action or other things. So for me when I think about it, that’s what I believe folks who speak against DEI, specifically on the right, obviously, are missing. They don’t bring up that element. To that you say what?”
“Well, I think it’s mixing a lot of things. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with diversity, and if I were remaking America I would make sure we had it in all forms in all places. I’d make sure we have lots of different people with lots of different backgrounds and lots of different ideological views running different corporations. But that’s not really what DEI is,” Kelly said.
A study published in March by the Functional Government Initiative and the Center for Renewing America said the Biden-Harris administration spent $1.1 trillion implementing 460 DEI-related programs across 24 federal agencies. Kelly said her issue with the push stems from its heavy emphasis on the “equity” aspect, calling out how her children have been taught about the push in their schools.
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“DEI is mostly focused on the ‘e’ the ‘equity,’ which is just a joke. Equity means you have the right to end up in the same place, irrespective of how much effort goes into it. That is not an American value. That is not something I value in or share in at all,” Kelly said. “Diversity is a different story, and I think we really were working toward it, and we were doing pretty well as a country.”
Kelly said that during her time in college in the 90s, “race was being diminished” and becoming less of a focus. She said, however, the setback came when race became “the top thing that we were supposed to notice about other people,” which she believes “created a wall between us.”
“By the way, most of DEI hiring and firing and whatever practices are illegal. It is illegal to even count race as a factor in hiring or firing. All these companies and these banks who are like, ‘Well, in the end, it tips the scales if she’s a woman or if he’s a black man.’ Wrong,” Kelly said.
“You just violated the law. You’re not allowed to consider it at all. But we lost our minds after George Floyd. We decided we were gonna throw the law out the window or just not enforce it and start living and dying by immutable characteristics,” Kelly added. “Like I should get extra points because I have a vag or you should get extra points because your skin is brown. It’s just utter madness.”
Since reentering office in January, President Donald Trump has dismantled DEI initiatives across government and education. One of his first actions included a Jan. 20 executive order declaring an end to “radical and wasteful government spending” on DEI programs and preferencing.
(Featured Image Media Credit:Screenshot/YouTube/”The Stephen A. Smith Show”)
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