Debra Messing Regrets ‘Megyn Kelly Today’ Appearance

Megyn Kelly Today arrived with much fanfare on Monday, but one person who was there for the celebration is having second thoughts about her participation.

Will & Grace star Debra Messing took to Instagram on Tuesday to express her regret for appearing on Megyn Kelly’s new daytime talk show. When asked by a fan why she and costars Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes, and Eric McCormack, sat down with Kelly ahead of the series’ return on Thursday, Messing responded, “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.”

The comments in question came when Kelly invited a Will & Grace superfan Russell Turner onstage to meet the cast.

“Is it true that you became a lawyer—and you became gay—because of Will?” Kelly asked.

Instead of explaining to Kelly the widely held belief that people are born gay, Turner replied lightheartedly, “I look at Will Truman and I’m like, ‘He has it made!’ Lawyer, best apartment in New York City, and gay? Come on, trifecta.”

After revealing Turner would be flown to Los Angeles to attend a taping of Will & Grace, Kelly remarked, ” I don’t know about the lawyer thing, but I think the Will & Grace thing and the gay thing are going to work out great.” Collective facepalm.

According to an insider who attended the taping, there wasn’t any apparent tension between Kelly, the cast or the superfan.

“She was obviously making a joke, that was clear to the “superfan”–who was ecstatic–and the audience,” the insider tells TV Insider. “It became even clearer when she spent much of the interview asking the show’s creators how proud they were of the positive social impact of Will & Grace and the progress it brought about for gay rights.”

Kelly spoke about the NBC show’s impact on the gay rights movement, recalling Vice President Joe Biden’s statements about the series at the time.

“What does it feel to hear that?” Kelly asked co-creator David Kohn.

“Shocking. He read it as I wrote it.  It was surprising and incredibly gratifying.  We never set out–there was nothing– we were not an ideological thing,” Kohan admitted. “We were not set out to posit ideas into the zeitgeist.  We were trying to do a show with 4 characters and trying to be funny.  It was very satisfying.”

If Messing’s costars also felt uncomfortable about their appearance on Kelly’s show, they haven’t revealed so publicly. Instead,  immediately following Monday’s appearance, Sean Hayes tweeted, “Having fun on the premiere episode of @megyntoday,” with a photo from the set.

Having fun on the premiere episode of @megyntoday. https://t.co/DJi3qjt9K8 pic.twitter.com/E2xv2tOIDo

— Sean Hayes (@SeanHayes) September 25, 2017

Watch Kelly’s interaction with the Will & Grace superfan below:

Related

Critics Roundtable: Can 'Will & Grace' Revival Live Up to Its Groundbreaking Past?