Megyn Kelly‘s attorney is blasting NBC News as both parties attempt to negotiate her exit from the network one week after her offensive comments about wearing blackface on Halloween got her hour of the Today show canceled.
“Despite my efforts to handle this process confidentially, NBC News is allowing the media to run with completely false and irresponsible reports that disparage Megyn by erroneously claiming she has ever asked for more money than her contract requires. If NBC News is not the source then they have a responsibility as a news division to correct these false claims. Or are they somehow attempting to use these fabrications for some fictitious advantage in the discussions we’re having? If Andy Lack has lost control, my hope would be that Steve Burke can step in and not permit blatant lies about our discussions to remain uncorrected.”
lawyer Bryan Freedman tells PEOPLE in a statement.
In response, an NBC spokesperson tells PEOPLE: “Unlike Mr. Freedman, who has repeatedly commented to the media throughout the negotiations, we respect the confidentiality of the process, and will have no comment until it reaches its conclusion.”
Regarding TMZ’s report that she wants an extra $10 million to sign an NDA, a source says: “NBC employees are all under non disparagement agreements … and she remains an employee.”
The ousted talk show host has not appeared live on the air since NBC confirmed that her 9 a.m. hour had been axed, and her Today colleagues celebrated Halloween without her Wednesday.
While Megyn Kelly Today is officially done, her future at the network remains unclear. Multiple sources have told PEOPLE that the network and Kelly are hammering out the terms of her exit from NBC News, which is complicated by her $23 million-a-year contract. (She has two years left.)
“They don’t want her there, and she doesn’t want to be there,” one source said.
During her show last week, Kelly was discussing attempts at universities to discourage “inappropriate and offensive costumes.” The former Fox News host asked: “But what is racist? 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, 47, has since apologized for her comments twice — first in an internal email to colleagues and then on-air as she held back tears.
RELATED: Megyn Kelly’s Today Set Has Been ‘Tense,’ ‘Uncomfortable’ Since Her Blackface Comments: Source
Her NBC colleagues condemned her harshly on Today. Melvin called her remarks “indefensible” as well as “ignorant and racist,” and Roker insisted she “owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country.”
