The XX Factor

Megyn Kelly Bared Her Shoulders Last Night, and Some Fox Viewers Couldn’t Handle It

Megyn Kelly during the third night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Fox News

Lots of inappropriate things happened on the third night of the Republican National Convention. Crowds booed Ted Cruz and berated his wife Heidi, who had to be escorted from her seat by security. Conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham threw up what looked a lot like a Nazi salute after her speech. Trump air-kissed his running mate, Mike Pence.

But, amid these happenings that sound like plot points in a Veep episode but are actually real life, here’s what a sizeable portion of Fox News viewers seemed to find scandalous, unacceptable, and deeply inappropriate: Megyn Kelly’s outfit.

Kelly wore a spaghetti strap, V-neck shirt that showed her shoulder and her upper chest. The offending garment:

She was slammed for her clothing choice on Twitter, and as this article from The Wrap points out, even got compared to an escort. Here’s a sampling of the backlash:

You’ve got your basic shaming:

And the implication that her professional abilities are somehow related to what she wears:

Her critics include this guy who knows what a tankini is but doesn’t know how to use the word “literally”:

And this self-described Trump supporter who appears to be referring to the sexual harassment lawsuit facing Fox News head Roger Ailes:

Kelly has been outspoken about the sexism that plagues the television industry in the past, and she made headlines this week when it came to light that she said she had been sexually harassed by Ailes when she was a young reporter at the network. So she surely knew that some people would judge her for baring her shoulders on the air. Maybe her choice of top last night was a defiant statement celebrating Ailes’ impending ouster at Fox—or maybe she was just overheated. But in the end it doesn’t matter. Megyn Kelly can wear whatever she wants, and if people are too distracted by her shoulders to listen to her, that’s their problem.