
Megyn Kelly appeared at CPAC 2025 to talk about the gaslighting by the left and the media over the past 10 years, how Trump's victory in 2024 was able to put an end to some of it and was a win for reality, the end of the corporate media, why the Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni story is important to politics and culture, and more.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome journalist and host of the Megyn Kelly Show. Megyn Kelly. Hey. Hi. Hey, guys. How's everybody doing? Oh, so great to see all of you. Hello, cpac. Love you. Appreciate it, guys. Gosh, you guys have been out there all day. This is amazing. I have to tell you, especially now that I do my own show in my own studio, I don't get out enough. And it's wonderful to actually get out there and see the people and actually glad handed with people who watch the show. Yes, it can be a little heady because people at an event like this, they come over, they say the nicest things, and you can almost be in danger of getting a little too drunk on your own wine you don't like. Wow. Oh, God. I think you meant JD Vance. I think that's what you're JD. He's 48, so, yeah, 49. So you can start to get a little drunk on your own wine. However, the good thing is God is always there to balance things out for you. God or my mom, and bring it down a peg when you need it. And this reminds me of the inauguration just last month. I went with so many great people who are. They were loving Trump. They were loving just the rebirth of our nation. And this one guy came over to me and he was so excited to see me. And he was like, oh, my God, I can't believe it's you. Can I please have a picture with you? I'm like, oh, of course. I'd be happy to. Took a selfie. He's like, I'm sending this to my mom. She's never going to believe this. I'm like, oh, I think I'm a pretty big deal. I'm like, really making an impression on this man. And he walks away and we hear him say, I can't believe I just met Carrie Underwood. So thank you, God. I appreciate that. It's important to remember who you are and who you definitely are not. But it was kind of a compliment either way. Anyway, speaking of big names, you definitely will know. Have you heard about what's happening with the Blake Lively Justin Baldoni case? All right, I'm just gonna walk because I actually held that. Can you hear me? Okay. Like this? Okay. Okay. Are you obsessed with this case? All right, There are a lot. There are millions of people who are obsessed with this case. I'm gonna give you a little background on it, and then you will be obsessed with it. And I'll tell you, there's a reason why conservatives in particular are following this so closely it makes sense to me. All right, so you know who Blake Lively is, right? Most people know her. Yeah, see the people who are booing, they know. Then there's this guy, Justin Baldoni, who's not as well known. And yeah, see, they've been following the story. So he optioned this book called It Ends with Us and it's about domestic violence. And he managed to get Blake Lively to star in his movie across from him. He played the abusive guy and she played the woman. And this is the thrill of a lifetime for this guy. You know, he had done another like TV project but nobody knows who he is. So he gets Blake Lively. She's married to Ryan Reynolds. These are Hollywood A listers. He's going to put him on the map and she agrees to be his female co star. Great. They're off to the races. Well, shortly into production, Blake Lively is very dissatisfied with virtually everything around her and decides to allege that Justin Baldoni, this, I mean, forgive me, very effeminate, evolved, modern feminist, mandib bun kind of guy, is like this virulent sexual harasser who can't stop harassing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in front of everybody on the set. I've got questions. I'm not sure why he would do that, whether he'd have the guts to do that, or whether the man bun is the most likely harasser in general. But you never know. Sometimes the ones who kind of bend over backward to be as woke as possible are the most. So, okay, I'm open minded about it. This is going someplace, trust me, I'll get us there. So she says he's been harassing her and they bring in some team and he says, whatever you want, I will do it or not do it, you tell me. So they go forward. Well, we move forward in the story and she's got to go do PR for the film. And she goes out in the summer, this past summer, and she had about two minutes of bad pr. The problem for Blake Lively, in my opinion, is that she does not improve upon acquaintance. And so the more time we got to spend with Blake Lively, the less we liked her, the more her promotional efforts for a film about domestic violence felt off. She was full of giggles and laughter and wanted to promote her liquor brand. Like nothing says domestic violence like a bottle of tequila. What? So it felt weird and she started to get hit by some of the media for being insensitive. Then this one reporter re upped a video in which she interviewed a then pregnant Blake, a then eight Month pregnant Blake and kicked off the interview as you would do as a journalist if there's something obviously different about somebody physically by saying, oh, you have such a cute baby, bunk. And Blake was taken aback even though it was obvious and said, oh, so do you. The reporter was not pregnant. It was a nasty jive at her for no reason. So normal people at home who don't care about this woman at all are looking at her like, I don't like her. She seems like a bully. She seems like somebody who punches down to somebody who's only trying to do something nice for her. So negative press swirled around her during this whole, like a month. Right. Later, she would describe this as though it was the pile on against Trump. Honestly, it's like most of us, especially in Republican politics or the news. This is called Tuesday for us. It's like, grow up. You're in the public eye. You've got probably hundreds of millions thanks to your husband. Just shut up. No one cares that you got a couple of bad articles about you in the Daily Mail. She winds up suing Justin Baldoni. She files a complaint with the Human Rights Commission out in California saying he sexually harassed me. And then he retaliated me by pushing all this bad press about me. He was behind it because I found his agent, his PR agent's nasty text saying, we can ruin her if we have to ruin her, we will. And those texts do exist. And Blake Lively went to the New York Times and the New York Times wrote the sympathetic poor Blake Lively story. Oh, we were all wrong about her and her weird pr. She. She's actually a good person and a me too victim. And then Justin Baldoni did something very smart. He hired the lawyer who represented me in my fight with NBC News, which ended well. His name is Brian Friedman and he's a legal genius. Highly recommend if you ever, God forbid. And Brian Friedman knows how to fight back against a bully, trust me. And he started telling everybody Justin Baldoni's side. He told us that Justin Baldoni denied those claims of sexual harassment and only tried to appease Blake Lively because she was such a high maintenance diva bully brat. He had to bend over backwards just to get her to shut up and complete the film. He told us that Justin Baldoni claims she tried to take over his movie because she has a history of saying, okay, I'll be the star. But what I secretly want to do is, is direct it and edit it and produce it. I want all the roles for me and only me. I want full control because I am a Controlling bully that Justin Baldoni. Ultimately, by the time they got to the premiere, was mandated by Blake Lively to spend the night in the basement away from his co stars, and didn't even get to see the final cut of his own movie because Blake Lively insisted that she be the one to approve it until he watched it on the screen with his editors, who also hadn't seen it because her editors finished it up. That's the situation he says he was in. So it's a real he said, she said. Who's telling the truth? Is he some creep harasser who took a shot at somebody like Blake jeopardizing his movie and his. His. His future career? Or is she just extremely high maintenance and someone who plays the victim when she doesn't get her way? Well, I've got my opinion, and I think you can guess what it is based on our little discussion here. The other thing is Brian Friedman produced text messages between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, so we don't have to take his side's word for it. And what they showed is that Blake Lively has got a bit of a God complex. She's texting Justin Baldoni about how she sees herself as Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, mother of dragons. Who do you guys. Did you watch that? You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. So Khaleesi is stunningly beautiful. She's this effervescent, strong character with temerity and resilience, and just. She's fierce. She's literally the mother of dragons in Game of Thrones. That's her, that's me, that's Blake. And she says, and I've got the greatest dragons on earth, Ryan Reynolds. And my best friend, who is Taylor Swift, though she's not named or they blacked it out. So she's telling him, I'm mother of dragons and my dragons will cut a bitch. And my dragons are named Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. So the message is pretty clear. Like, okay, she's a powerful person with powerful friends, and she's got a bit of a God complex. All right? Now we get into litigation. She files her human rights campaign. The movie comes out. It does. All right? He's in the basement for the premiere, and he hires Brian Freeman and countersues her and the New York Times for $400 million, claiming this is a massive defamation. Okay? Drags Ryan Reynolds into it as well. And now we're off to the races. And where do things stand now as a result of all this? As a result of Blake Lively apparently wanting Control of a movie. She did not control wanting to get the camel's nose under the tent as an actress and then take over the entire production mission creep on steroids. And was shocked, shocked when Justin Baldoni did not want her to do those extra things. And then when it all blows up, lawsuits and cross lawsuits, and Blake Lively, who I believe thought she would be received or perceived as an Alyssa Milano or Ashley Judd MeToo victim, is instead looking a lot more like Amber Heard. How did that work out? Bad move. And honestly, to me, the lesson is a be a good person. But, baby, if you're a Hollywood star or any sort of a public figure, would you just please take your licks in the press and shut up about it? People have real problems. They don't give two craps that you had a couple of negative articles written about you in the Daily Mail. And in her complaint, the thing she's bitching about is that this terrible PR campaign that was opened up against her hurt sales of her liquor brand and her hair care products. Oh, my God. Right? Like, while this is going on, inflation's, like, at 9%. Get a grip. Okay, so it was a terrible idea. They shouldn't have done any of this. But I think the reason that conservatives are so interested in this is a couple of fold. Number one, you seem to be watching the unwrapping of a public figure. Like, the unspooling. You know, you've caught someone in what you believe is a lie. That's how I feel. And it's amazing to see it told and to kind of gone down the lane, like, okay, maybe. Here we go. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Because Baldoni's released these text messages. She says he inappropriately smelled my neck when we were doing a scene. Then you see the scene. They're dancing, they're caressing, they're making out. It's like. But the neck thing was too much when he smelled it. All right. They went into my trailer when I was breastfeeding my baby. You're like, that's disgusting. What's wrong with these people? Then you see his text message where she says, come on over to my trailer. I'm breastfeeding baby, but it's fine. Yeah. She says his weird producing partner showed me porn. I'm like, these people are freaks. Then you see what he actually says. He showed her the producing partner, which was. She was filming a birth scene in the movie, and it was a still shot of a water birth his wife had at home. You can't see anything X rated. It's A PG photo. You can't see anything at all. It's, like, artistic. It made me wish I had a water birth. All right, so you wind up kind of feeling a little bitter. And this is where we come in, because everyone in this room, because you're here, I know this about you. You've been gas lit to high heaven every time you've picked up a newspaper in the United States. Every time you've turned on cnn, you've been lied to, you've been bullied or seen others with lesser power bullied by the media and the leftist Democrats. You have been the victim of overbearing and controlling leftists who think they are the final arbiters of what's best for you and your life. And it's wonderful to see someone fighting back. Right. She's become like an avatar for leftist overreach in a different special way. I really believe this is why so many people on the right are kind of into this story. Just kind of want to see how it ends. Will it end as it ended for us on November 5th? Because we were pretty happy with how that went. Right. Or is it going to be something else? I mean, only time will tell, but it's bringing up room to explore the past 10 years that we've all been through and how Trump put a period at the end of it, we hope, or at least the beginnings of the end, by winning. So the bully thing, what was one of the biggest stories this past year? Daniel Penny. Right? You guys know who that is? Daniel Penny stood up for others on the New York City subway when there was a crazed man who was out of his mind on drugs, threatening to kill people, and got him in a chokehold. And the man ultimately later passed and he got charged by that insane crank, Alvin Bragg, and had to defend himself against criminal charges. Yes. Boo. He deserves it. So Daniel Penny got bullied by Alvin Bragg and the media, which did not stand up for him either. There was Nick Sandman. Remember him? Look at. I love how you guys know these names. You're my people. Nick Sandman goes out there in front of the Supreme Court to stand up for life. And CNN portrays him as this villain, as this smirking, crappy, arrogant villain. Look at him. And he's sneering at a Native American who's just there minding his own business. Totally the opposite. Totally the opposite. Nick Salmon was standing there, respectfully, while he was being antagonized by the Native American who was dancing aggressively in his face and getting up on him and mocking him. That's why CNN had to pay him in a defamation case that was settled. Kyle Rittenhouse. Kyle Rittenhouse tried to do what the Biden administration would not and go to Wisconsin and actually protect the neighboring town. It did not go well. He wound up shooting three guys. He was acquitted on all charges, ultimately. But before we knew much at all about that case, Joe Biden got out there as he was running for president. This. This happened prior to Biden taking over as he was running for president and called Kyle Rittenhouse a white supremacist. There was zero evidence of this. The kid was 18 years old. He. He's got the possible next at that point. Possible? Ultimately, yes. President of the United States telling everyone he's a white supremacist. Something for which he never apologized. Joe Biden. There was no evidence of that. None. So the left likes to bully people who are weak. He's a kid now. He's on trial for triple homicide in one case. And you think it's a great time to pile on him publicly as the possible next president? There's something wrong with that. Something's off about a guy in a party that does it and supports it. And so the bully nature of the left has been on full display, as has its controlling nature. They want to tell us what we can eat. They want to tell us what we can drink. They want to tell us how fast the water can come out of our showers, what we can drive, what we can put in the tank, what we can turn on our stove with. I mean, it's over the top. What we can think, what we can feel, where we can pray, where we. What we have to put in our arms, what we have to put in our children's arms, our baby's arms. It's a lot. They seem to be really drunk on their power, and we have to encounter this at every turn. And then we see that same camel's nose thing under the tent. You give them a little. And then they start exploiting it and taking it too far. May I remind you of a little thing called usaid? Right. There's a poll. You guys are going to talk to Caroline Levitt in a bit. I interviewed her for my show today, and we were talking about the CNN poll. It shows Trump's approval numbers. They fell a little, a couple points since he took office, because he's doing things that the left may or may not like. And his numbers were kind of down on the closure of usaid. Okay, well, let's look at the cross tab. How did they ask it, it was like, do you support Trump's decision to close the agency that is helping those suffering abroad in humanitarian crises? Right? Like, would you like the children to die as a result of what Trump did? Yes or no? It doesn't say, do you support helping African people prevent HIV aids? Virtually every American would say, yes, we can spend some money on that. Yes, we do. And also then we will take that money and we will divert it for trans operas in Colombia. Who the hell said yes to that? We literally spent $70,000 on DEI dance in Ireland. They already have Riverdance. I stole that from the Ruthless fellows. But it's ridiculous. It's too much. It's overreach. And then inevitably, when you call them out on the nonsense, right, when you send Elon in there with Doge and the Doge Tech guys and they start kicking the tires, they play the victim just like Blake Lively. How dare you. I'm subjected to all these stories, right? You're subjected to the stories because you did something wrong. And that's the way the media and the world works and because you deserve it. So we're tired of their games. The games are outdated. The tactics are outdated. They're old and they're tired. And speaking of the Associated Press, the media, the media's days of pretending they are holier than thou are over. President Trump kicked them out. Not of the White House, not of the White House breast breathing room, but kicked them out of the Oval and out of the Air Force One seat they had because they refused to call it Gulf of America. Now, this is interesting because AP is an American company. They say we have to do it because we report in international countries. The people of Ghana are going to be upset if you start reporting on it. Folks in Somalia are really going to get upset. You're an American company. You're incorporated here. You're headquartered in New York. This is a stick in the eye of the President, nothing more. It's obvious. Trump knows it and so do we. And the thing about the AP is they love word changes, name changes. They live for this crap. Just as soon as they were told, they have to call girls who transition to boys, boys, they did it. Boys who transition to girls, they did it. They went with the pronouns, the whole thing. You can't even read an AP story about some trans thing without leaving utterly confused. Now, there's no more somebody born male or somebody born female. It's assigned male at birth. Assigned female at birth, like it was a sin committed by the doctor. And it still is very ambiguous they love that name change. They did it right away. Illegal immigrants, we don't have those anymore. If you read the ap, they got rid of that term. It's too offensive. Now you have to say undocumented immigrant. What does that mean? An illegal immigrant. Makes sense to everybody now. Undocumented, that's. They got rid of the term crisis at the southern border when Joe Biden was president. Could no longer say crisis. As soon as the numbers hit 100,000amonth, the word crisis kept appearing more. Not in the ap. We don't do that. That's not okay. Even though Jeh Johnson, Obama's Homeland Security secretary, said it's a crisis if you have 30,000 in a month. This time under Biden, it was 100,000. AP gets rid of the word crisis and didn't bring it back even when we had 300,000 crossing a month. Forgot that word. They won't say terrorist when they're talking about Islamic terrorists. All of these word changes they're totally in favor of. But Gulf of America is a bridge too far. So look, I'll leave you with this. Blake Lively had a point on one thing. Her time as the Hollywood It Girl. The days of the left bullying and controlling us without much pushback. The days of the media pretending to to be objective and independent and demanding to be left be owned. It really does end with us. And not a moment too soon. Thank you all for listening. Thanks for being here. God bless you and God bless America. Bye.
Release Date: February 22, 2025
Host: Megyn Kelly
Event: CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference)
Megyn Kelly opens her speech at CPAC with a warm greeting to the audience, expressing her appreciation for being present at the event. She reflects on the challenges of hosting her own show from her studio and the value of engaging directly with her audience.
Megyn Kelly [00:02]: "Love you. Appreciate it, guys. Gosh, you guys have been out there all day. This is amazing."
She humorously shares an anecdote comparing herself to a celebrity, emphasizing her grounded nature despite public perceptions.
Megyn delves into the highly publicized dispute between actress Blake Lively and actor Justin Baldoni, providing a detailed recounting of the events and their implications.
Background:
Megyn Kelly [05:30]: "Blake Lively is very dissatisfied with virtually everything around her and decides to allege that Justin Baldoni... is like this virulent sexual harasser who can't stop harassing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood."
Escalation:
Megyn Kelly [12:45]: "Blake Lively has got a bit of a God complex. She's texting Justin Baldoni about how she sees herself as Khaleesi from Game of Thrones... My dragons are named Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively."
Legal Battles:
Megyn Kelly [20:15]: "He hired Brian Friedman and countersued her and the New York Times for $400 million, claiming this is a massive defamation."
Outcome and Analysis:
Megyn Kelly [25:50]: "She's becoming like an avatar for leftist overreach in a different special way... The other thing is Brian Friedman produced text messages... She has a History of saying... I want full control because I am a Controlling bully."
Megyn transitions to a broader critique of what she perceives as left-wing dominance in media and cultural institutions, arguing that the left engages in "gaslighting" and controlling tactics.
Media Bias:
Megyn Kelly [30:40]: "Nick Sandman was standing there respectfully... Totally the opposite. That's why CNN had to pay him in a defamation case that was settled."
WOKE Culture and Overreach:
Megyn Kelly [40:10]: "They went with the pronouns, the whole thing. You can't even read an AP story about some trans thing without leaving utterly confused."
Political Examples:
Megyn Kelly [35:25]: "Kyle Rittenhouse tried to do what the Biden administration would not... He was acquitted on all charges, ultimately."
Megyn Kelly wraps up her speech by reiterating her stance against what she views as leftist overreach and media manipulation. She emphasizes the importance of standing up against perceived injustices and maintaining personal integrity.
Megyn Kelly [50:00]: "Blake Lively had a point on one thing... The days of the left bullying and controlling us without much pushback... It really does end with us."
She concludes with a message of empowerment and encouragement to her audience to continue resisting leftist pressure.
Megyn Kelly [54:30]: "Thank you all for listening. Thanks for being here. God bless you and God bless America. Bye."
Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni Case: A high-profile dispute that highlights issues of power dynamics, media influence, and the complexities of public perception in Hollywood.
Media and Leftist Overreach: Megyn critiques mainstream media for bias and accuses left-wing ideologies of exercising excessive control over language, policies, and personal freedoms.
Cultural and Political Examples: Utilizes recent events and figures to illustrate her points about media manipulation, legal battles, and political strategies.
Call to Action: Encourages listeners to recognize and combat what she perceives as systemic left-wing tactics aimed at controlling narratives and public opinion.
On Personal Grounding:
Megyn Kelly [00:10]: "I don't get out enough. And it's wonderful to actually get out there and see the people..."
On Blake Lively's Behavior:
Megyn Kelly [07:50]: "She has a bit of a God complex... My dragons are named Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively."
On Media Defamation:
Megyn Kelly [33:05]: "That's why CNN had to pay him in a defamation case that was settled."
On Associated Press Overreach:
Megyn Kelly [42:20]: "They went with the pronouns, the whole thing... They can't even read an AP story without leaving utterly confused."
Final Empowerment:
Megyn Kelly [54:30]: "God bless you and God bless America. Bye."
This summary encapsulates Megyn Kelly's CPAC speech, highlighting her perspectives on the Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni case and her broader critiques of left-wing influence in media and culture. The inclusion of direct quotes with timestamps provides authenticity and allows readers to reference specific moments from the speech.