Megyn Kelly isn’t mincing words about her backstabbing “friend” Van Jones.
In a blistering segment on her show, Kelly took direct aim at Jones — not over a disagreement in policy, but over something far deeper: what she sees as a pattern of cowardice, opportunism, and moral failure in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s tragic death.
“Now we’ve got to talk about Van Jones,” she began. “He came out on Friday with a nice story about Charlie, and as I’m sure he predicted, it’s now getting even conservatives to say nice things about Van.”
“I’m not one of them. Not today. And I’m going to explain to you why,” Kelly began, responding to Van Jones’s much-shared op-ed portraying Charlie Kirk as a “surprisingly thoughtful” person — after publicly accusing him of racism just two days before he was murdered.
“Literally every word out of his mouth was wrong.”
Kelly recounts her own history with Van Jones, starting with his sympathetic call after she was “canceled” at NBC for her comments on Halloween costumes and blackface — a moment that was wildly distorted by the media.
“Van Jones called me… He said, ‘Megyn, I just want to say what’s happening to you is wrong. It’s deeply wrong. And I want to see if you’re OK.’”
She was touched — especially, she says, because Jones is “a black man in media. And so he gets it.” When she asked him to say something publicly to push back against the media firestorm, Van agreed: “I’ll do it.”
But then he didn’t.
A week later, after she followed up, he backed out. Why? He claimed he was receiving death threats after appearing with Jared Kushner.
“It was his offer. It was his to withdraw. But it showed me something. That when the pressure is on, Van Jones folds.”
Fast forward to September 2025. On CNN, just two days before Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Van Jones accused him of “race mongering” for suggesting that the brutal murder of Irina Zarotska — a white woman allegedly killed by a black man shouting “I got that white girl” — might have had a racial component.
“Someone like Charlie Kirk… he should be ashamed of himself. No one mentioned race — white, Black, or anything — except him,” Van said on CNN.
Kelly erupted at that claim: “That was factually erroneous. It was a smear. It was defamatory of Charlie Kirk. He was wrong on every front.”
And two days later, Charlie Kirk was dead.
Kelly is careful not to blame Van Jones for the assassination. In fact, she says plainly:
“I do not believe Van Jones caused Charlie Kirk to get shot.”
But what she does blame is the environment Jones helped create:
“The collective leftist messaging around prominent right-wing figures is endangering them… We’re not screwing around anymore.”
After Charlie’s death, Jones published a reflective op-ed on CNN titled, “Charlie Kirk DMed Me Before He Was Murdered. Here’s What He Said.”
In it, Van reveals that Charlie had invited him onto his show, writing:
“Hey Van, I mean it. I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race.”
Van called this “a remarkable act of grace.”
But to Kelly, this reframe was self-serving:
“This is Van Jones trying to make himself look good. Not trying to appeal to leftists to reevaluate Charlie Kirk.”
She blasted Jones for refusing to acknowledge that the killer was motivated by left-wing, pro-trans ideology — despite public statements from the killer’s mother, the governor of Utah, and overwhelming digital evidence.
“Even then, what we knew was on the bullet casings… He’s saying the killer’s exact motives are still being investigated.”
Jones, she argued, was playing both sides to maintain his media reputation:
“He can’t let it go. He’s got to still pretend it’s a mystery.”
What enraged Kelly most, though, was Van Jones’s attempt to paint himself as the victim:
“I was the recipient myself of pretty caustic language from Charlie Kirk… and racist death threats.”
To Kelly, that crosses the line:
“So now he calls Charlie a racist… and then after Charlie is assassinated, he says, ‘Oh, I was the victim.’ This whole thing is bullsh*t.”
She concluded with a scathing moral rebuke:
“Forget my circumstance. What you should have done with me is say nothing. Or don’t volunteer to do anything.”
“You needed to stand up — and you didn’t. And now you want praise for your grace? After helping smear a man who reached out to you in good faith?”
Van Jones didn’t just fail Charlie Kirk. He failed in what should be the most basic journalistic and moral obligation: telling the truth — especially when it’s unpopular.
And for Kelly — and many conservatives watching — that failure is unforgivable.
“We’re not screwing around anymore.”
“It was totally irresponsible of you – and you have yet to undo it…”
@megynkelly on “coward” Van Jones trying to spin his final private exchange with Charlie Kirk to help himself.Watch and download: https://t.co/FjIiAjfcyc pic.twitter.com/lo2PfdlUGy
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) September 22, 2025
