Critics and Viewers Pile on Megyn Kelly's Interview With Vladimir Putin After NBC Show Debut

Television By TooFab Staff |

Megyn Kelly's hour-long news program "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" debuted this weekend featuring an interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

During the sitdown, Putin denied any allegations Russia interfered with the 2016 election or that they were holding damning information over Donald Trump's head.

"I never met with him. We have a lot of Americans who visit us," he said. "Do you think we're gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something? Are you all — have you all lost your senses over there?"

"This is just another load of nonsense," Putin added of having secret intel on Trump. "Where would we get this information from? Why, did we have some special relationship with him? We didn't have any relationship at all."

Putin also slammed the American media for its coverage of Trump.

"For me, this is just amazing. You create a sensation out of nothing and out of this sensation, you turn it into a weapon of war against the current president," he said, "You people are so creative over there. Good job. Your lives must be boring."

Unfortunately, critics didn't love her debut, both in print and on Twitter.

The Los Angeles Times called Kelly "still not a great interviewer" in their review of the program, adding that Putin is "still one of the most deceptive interview subjects around."

NPR called it a "tepid debut," saying the interview "consisted of the anchor asking tough-sounding questions with enough wiggle room that Putin could shrug off, claim ignorance of or become indignant over the subjects at hand."

Variety said it was "not a bad hour of TV" and called Kelly "poised on camera," but slammed a "'Kids Say the Darndest Things' type of diversion" segment at the the end of the episode as an "embarrassment."

CNN said "it's going to require more work and reinvention to find the ideal formula for that Kelly cocktail," adding that "Kelly thrives in a more prosecutorial mode." They also said the show "looked like pretty much any conventional newsmagazine."

Vanity Fair applauded Kelly for getting Putin for her debut, but then said, "getting the U.S.'s biggest antagonist is meaningless if you simply go through the motions once he's there." The publication also praised her as "one of her industry's most prized talents," but said it remains "unclear how much she can add to the format."

Kelly didn't have too many supporters on Twitter either, as many went in on her interview tactics and -- in more sexist critiques -- slammed her appearance and outfits.