The Megyn Kelly Show – Ep. 1243

"Ridiculous Anti-ICE Celebs at Grammys, Savannah Guthrie's Mom Missing, and Lemon's 'Journalism'"

Air Date: February 2, 2026
Host: Megyn Kelly
Guests: Jesse Kelly, Jonathan Turley, Matt Murphy

Overview

This episode of The Megyn Kelly Show dives into recent cultural controversies, legal news, and media missteps, focusing largely on the political messaging at the Grammys, the ongoing immigration debate, the Don Lemon legal saga, and the mysterious disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mother. With spirited and often biting commentary, Megyn and her guests critique celebrity activism, discuss the erosion of law and order, analyze the role of journalists as activists, and provide updates and insights on developing criminal investigations.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Grammys: Celebrity Activism and Anti-ICE Grandstanding

(03:16–34:57)

Main Themes:

• The wave of anti-ICE statements and virtue-signaling by celebrities at the Grammys.
• The hypocrisy and perceived ignorance of celebrity activists.
• The changing standards of attention-seeking in Hollywood, from nudity to performative wokeness.

Summary:

• Megyn Kelly and Jesse Kelly review the Grammys, expressing disdain for what they see as "mental illness in the music industry" and the disconnect between entertainers’ political posturing and the real world.
  • Megyn: "Sing for me, bitch. That’s how I felt. Sing, do it. Dance, do it... I don’t care about your thoughts on politics. Now sing." (06:37)
  • Jesse: "The Romans loved plays, they loved music... But they also understood that generally the practitioners of these things should never, ever, ever make decisions of any kind in a society." (10:32)
• Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, and Bad Bunny are critiqued for their anti-ICE activism, despite living in immense privilege and security.
• Hypocrisy Highlighted: Billie Eilish’s call to "abolish ICE" is contrasted with her multimillion-dollar gated residence. (08:33+)
• Jesse Kelly explains how progressive causes have become a mandatory "box to check" for access to elite circles in Hollywood (11:00–12:20), referencing James Woods' recent interview.
  • "If your movie doesn’t have enough DEI, then boom, you’ve run into the ceiling. You can’t get all the way up to the Oscar. That is a box you must have checked." (12:13)
• Mockery of celebrities’ statements:
  • Various stars repeat mantras like “No one is illegal on stolen land” (08:37), and declare that "immigrants built this country"—spiraling the conversation away from legal distinctions.
    • Megyn: "It’s so dishonest to pretend this is about immigrants... It has nothing to do with immigrants. It’s the illegal immigrants who need to get the f out." (15:53)
  • Jesse portrays these artists as programmable, likening them to "robots not wearing much clothing," easily updated with the latest progressive cause. (16:24)
    • "If there was enough propaganda and money behind it, next year at the Grammys you could get all these people to go out there and give a speech on whale farts smelling good." (16:48)

Memorable Quotes:

• Megyn Kelly: "You absolute jerk losers, know nothings. Justin Bieber is Canadian and is out there with his get out ICE pin. And honestly, as dumb as two bananas." (06:52)
• Jesse Kelly: "I don’t argue with my dog over what to have for dinner and I don’t argue with Billie Eilish about how to handle immigration for a country of 300 million people." (11:34)
• On virtue-signaling at the Grammys:
  • Megyn: "They stink of desperation. That’s the thing. They stink of desperation, and I can smell it from here." (22:57)

Fashion Critique and Celebrity Desperation:

• Discussion of "desperate" displays at the Grammys, with stars pushing boundaries further to stand out—primarily via undress (side chat on Heidi Klum, Chapel Roan, Addison Rae, etc.).
  • Megyn: "She decided to show us exactly what every man who’s banged her has gotten to see. Which seems like a little aggressive." (18:38)
  • Jesse: "If you really want to stand out, put on a classy dress, that’s what stands out. That’s the most totally subversive.” (25:42)
• The Babylon Bee is referenced for a satirical tweet: “In edgy Grammys performance, fully clothed woman sings beautiful song.” (26:59)

Bad Bunny, Bon Iver, and NFL Critique:

• Bad Bunny’s anti-ICE speech, tied to his upcoming Super Bowl performance, is called out as orchestrated activism.
  • Megyn: "I feel like we might want to send ICE down to his compound. He’s worth a hundred million dollars." (31:00)
• Discussion of Bon Iver wearing a whistle "to honor the observers in Minneapolis" (32:18–33:03), and general ridicule of the juxtaposition between celebrities’ security and their immigration rhetoric.
  • Jesse: "They don’t want the deportation force of America to remove the child rapists and serial killers from our communities, yet they live their entire lives surrounded by security." (33:14)
  • "If you are going to watch the halftime show with that filthy communist... I would have to question you, to be honest." (34:57)

2. Protest Theater and Political Radicalization

(38:19–41:01)

• A viral video featuring Minnesota activists mimicking the Iwo Jima flag raising for left-wing causes is critiqued.
  • Megyn: "These losers are adults who are cosplaying being teenagers for whom it is appropriate." (41:01)
• Jesse Kelly discusses "theater kid" protest culture and how sustained programming—Nazis, Hitler, fascism—can turn the “easily programmable” into activists or even violent offenders.
  • "Language leads to mindset, and mindset leads to performance... You tell these people this over and over and over again, eventually they stop scrolling on TikTok and... freak out." (38:19–41:01)

3. Don Lemon’s Legal Saga & Journalism as Activism

(41:01–51:17), (87:15–97:14)

Case Details:

• Don Lemon’s arrest for his role in storming a church to protest ICE.
• Conversation on media bias in prosecution, Lemon’s privileged treatment, and the move from journalism into open advocacy.

Key Points:

• Megyn highlights the swift, lenient judicial response to Lemon compared to other criminal defendants.
  • Megyn: "[Don Lemon] is allowed to go to Paris, France, in his white suit, maybe with his BFF Karen and the other Karen, to whom he’s married, which is a white man, which is shocking because he really fucking hates white men. Except for this one." (41:01)
• Don Lemon’s self-assessment: “The journalists are the stars. ...My star quality is being honest and authentic and telling the truth.” (43:18)
  • Megyn and Jesse both reject this, highlighting Lemon’s floundering ratings and dependence on identity politics for network job security.

Media as Activism:

• Jonathan Turley, later, frames Lemon’s actions as part of a wider trend—"mobocracy"—where journalists blur the lines between neutral reporting and activist intervention. (87:15)
  • Turley: "You have journalists that blur the line between the press and advocates... As J schools now around the country reject objectivity and neutrality, people like Lemon are the face of that movement." (87:15)

Don Lemon’s Legal Exposure:

• Turley notes prosecutorial double standards and the influence of partisanship on outcomes.
  • Turley: "Courts are very likely to view him as engaged in a protected journalistic exercise... It is hard to see that as journalism, it seems to me to be advocacy." (87:15)
  • Megyn: "There’s no question that just that he had a microphone is not going to save him... Journalists have to obey the law just the same as anybody else does." (94:28)

On Racial Elements and Public Reaction:

• Jamel Hill’s commentary that the case is about Lemon’s race, and that black journalists spearheaded the truth about Trump—summarily dismissed by the panel as reductive and tired identity politics.
  • Jesse: "Everything’s racism. Black people are always oppressed. Everyone’s freaking tired of hearing about the whole daggone thing." (50:48)

4. Jonathan Turley on American Constitutional Crisis and the 'New Jacobins'

(54:18–71:06)

Rage and the Republic – New Book Overview

• Turley explains his new book, its focus on the differences between the American and French Revolutions, and lessons for the future.
  • Turley: “The second half of the book looks forward and says, what can we learn from that experience to deal with some of the challenges... from robotics to AI to global governance?” (54:25)
  • "We need to rediscover what I call a liberty enhancing economy. The book is an unabashed case for capitalism which is also under attack.” (62:52)
• Discussion of how modern leftist elites mirror the Jacobins of the French Revolution—professional, intellectual, disconnected from the working class, but advocating radical structural change.
• Debates modern trends rejecting the Constitution, with leading academics calling it a failure.
  • Turley: “We were the Enlightenment revolution... It was based on this idea that we demanded rights given to us by God, not by the government.” (59:47)
• The upsurge in support for socialism among the young, e.g., New York electing a self-declared democratic socialist mayor.
  • Turley links this to lack of historical perspective among the youth: "These are... young voters who never knew or have any memory of the collapse of socialist governments in the 20th century.” (68:18)

Function and Erosion of Federal Power:

• Analysis of sanctuary policies in Minneapolis and around the country; federal vs. local jurisdiction in immigration enforcement.
  • Turley: “The Supreme Court has... said that state and local officials cannot be required to carry out federal law. So it is up to them.” (74:57)
  • On judicial activism: Turley critiques a district judge’s grandstanding in a recent deportation dispute, calling it “inappropriate and chilling for judges to step down from the bench and try to engage in this political debate.” (81:10)
• Megyn and Turley agree federal judges, both Democrat and Republican appointees, sometimes check these overreaches, affirming federal supremacy in immigration enforcement. (83:20–84:00)

5. The Disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s Mother

(101:14–119:23)

Case Details:

• Megyn reports extensively on the disappearance of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie’s elderly mother, Nancy Guthrie, in Arizona. Police convert the case from a missing-persons to a crime scene after finding "concerning" evidence at her home.
  • Sheriff Chris Nanos: “...after we processed that crime scene... we do, in fact, have a crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime.” (102:06)
• Matt Murphy, former prosecutor, analyzes:
  • The rarity and urgency of such disappearances in elderly people without dementia.
  • The fact that her belongings were left behind, indicating she did not leave voluntarily.
  • The proximity to the Mexican border and possible wider criminal scenarios, including abduction or foul play by transient or recently displaced individuals.
    • "The very, very young and the very, very old—the way certain people will prey on them...it undermines your faith in humanity." (104:34)
  • The possibility of forensic evidence (cameras, scents, disturbances) guiding the search, and cooperation between federal, state, and local agencies.
• Murphy cautions: "Hopefully, again, I pray that they just brought in their best detectives because it was such an urgent case...The fact that they made an appeal to the public like this…they are semi-desperate and that also is very scary." (113:05)

Notable Quotes

• Megyn Kelly:
  • “These losers are adults who are cosplaying being teenagers... making fools of themselves.” (41:01)
  • “That’s the Romans' view! The practitioners of these things should never make decisions of any kind in society.” (10:32)
• Jesse Kelly:
  • “Next year at the Grammys you could get all these people to give a speech on whale farts smelling good...” (16:48)
  • “If you can’t turn the channel off at this point in time, honestly, that’s on you.” (35:32)
• Jonathan Turley:
  • “You have journalists that blur the line between the press and advocates... and as J schools now reject objectivity and neutrality, people like Lemon are the face of that movement.” (87:15)
  • “Language leads to mindset, and mindset leads to performance.” (38:19)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 03:16–34:57: Grammys Recap, anti-ICE activism, celebrity hypocrisy, fashion commentary
• 38:19–41:01: Minnesota protest video, "theater kid" activism, programming of the left
• 41:01–51:17: Don Lemon’s arrest, discussion on press activism, racial narratives in media prosecutions
• 54:18–71:06: Interview with Prof. Jonathan Turley on Rage and the Republic, American constitutional moment, legal and societal threats
• 73:13–84:00: Immigration enforcement, sanctuary policy legal battles, judicial activism on immigration
• 87:15–97:14: Deeper legal analysis of Don Lemon’s case and Face Act violations, intersection of journalism and law
• 101:14–119:23: Savannah Guthrie’s mother missing; Matt Murphy’s criminal investigation analysis

Tone & Style

• Outspoken, irreverent, and sharp-edged; leans heavily conservative/populist.
• Mocking and dismissive tone toward left-leaning celebrities and activists.
• Frequent analogies, historical references, and sardonic humor.
• Sincere gravity in discussion of crime, immigration violence, and missing persons.

Conclusion

This episode interweaves cultural commentary, legal analysis, and current events—entirely through Megyn Kelly and her guests’ incisive, unapologetic perspectives. The central threads are the performative and often hypocritical activism of elite celebrities, the breakdown of law and order in urban America, and the erosion of boundaries between advocacy and journalism in mainstream media. The tragic story of Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother closes the show on a somber, human note—reminding listeners that, outside the culture wars, real lives and safety remain at stake.