Megyn Kelly didn’t hold back when she blasted Patti LuPone after the Broadway diva weighed in on the anti-ICE protests that have roiled the country. Kelly framed LuPone’s latest comments as the latest example of celebrity grandstanding — loud, performative, and reckless — and reminded viewers that when high-profile entertainers wade into violent, complicated situations they inflame rather than inform.
The backdrop is ugly and serious: the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis has set off protests nationwide and turned Hollywood into a political echo chamber. Stars wearing “Be Good” and “ICE Out” pins at awards shows and on red carpets have made the moment about virtue signaling instead of sober debate, and that convenience of celebrity outrage is exactly what Megyn says people should distrust.
Patti LuPone is hardly a neutral voice — she’s a legendary performer with a long track record of theatrical meltdowns and public confrontations, from screaming at audience members to lashing out on social media. Her history of bullying moments and divisive public behavior only makes her sudden transformation into a moral arbiter more laughable and more dangerous when she joins the choir calling for the removal of federal law enforcement without offering solutions.
Kelly’s point — the one conservatives should cheer — is simple: celebrities can shout from their gilded stages, but their take rarely accounts for nuance, context, or the risks officers face on the ground. The Minneapolis shooting is under investigation, and reasonable people should want facts and accountability, not performance art and partisan posturing that risks encouraging lawlessness.
At a time when America needs calm, sober leadership and respect for rule of law, LuPone’s dramatic screeds and Hollywood’s moral theater do real harm by polarizing communities and painting complex law-enforcement issues in broad, incendiary strokes. Megyn Kelly was right to call out the hypocrisy: if our cultural elites want to lecture the country, they should be prepared to own the consequences of what their words unleash on the streets.
