The Megyn Kelly Show – Episode Summary

Episode: The Nuzzi-RFK Drama, Attacking Tucker's Son to Smear Vance, and New Cancel Culture
Date: November 18, 2025
Guests: Emily Jashinsky (Host of After Party and the Megyn Kelly Wrap Up Show)
Host: Megyn Kelly

EPISODE OVERVIEW

This lively and unfiltered episode delves deep into the scandal-rich intersection of politics, media, and cancel culture. Megyn Kelly and guest Emily Jashinsky unpack the explosive Olivia Nuzzi-RFK Jr. affair saga, subsequent career fallout, and journalistic ethics, while also tackling recent cancel culture developments and the politics of guilt by association—like attacks on J.D. Vance’s staff over familial ties to Tucker Carlson. The latter half of the episode addresses transparency failures around the Trump assassination attempt and the FBI, as well as the problematic expansion of cancel culture into entertainment, exemplified by Dasha Nekrasova’s “Red Scare” fallout.

1. OLIVIA NUZZI, RFK JR, AND MEDIA SCANDALS

(Main Segment: 03:56–47:37)

Background and Characters

• Olivia Nuzzi: Noted NY Magazine and Daily Beast reporter, recently rehired by Vanity Fair. Known for a frank writing style and flair; was one of few left-leaning reporters to publicly address Biden’s mental state before the 2024 election.
• Bobby Kennedy Jr. (RFKJ): Now Secretary of Health and Human Services; denies affair allegations.
• Ryan Lizza: Politico reporter, Olivia’s former fiancé; at the center of a messy, public breakup.
• Keith Olbermann & Mark Sanford: Other older, prominent men linked to Nuzzi.

Scandal Timeline & Details

• Nuzzi and RFKJ’s alleged digital affair (text and phone intimacy, but no physical liaison) leads to her firing after Kara Swisher reports to NY Mag editor.
• “It’s just one of the biggest stories that’s out there right now… literally everybody I know has sent it to me.” (Megyn, 04:16)
• While engaged to Lizza, Nuzzi allegedly became involved with other older political men (including Olbermann, Sanford).
• Ryan Lizza files for (then withdraws) a restraining order, claims defamation, and finally retaliates via a tell-all post on Substack after Nuzzi’s book/Vanity Fair excerpt.

Book Excerpt & Writing Style

• American Canto excerpt runs in Vanity Fair, painting a portrait of passionate, if destructive, affairs with “the politician.”
• Quotes from Nuzzi’s writing dramatized:

  “He was insatiable in all ways, as if he would swallow up the whole world just to know it better if he could.” (Emily, dramatic reading, 15:21)

• Megyn praises her “rhetorical flair” but acknowledges critics who find the style “overwrought.”
• Extended discussion of the “pattern” of romantic-professional boundary violations, the risks for young female journalists, and the culture of glamorizing self-destructive behavior.

Professional Ethics, Double Standards, and Cancel Pushback

• Lizza’s Substack response reveals further alleged affairs (including with Mark Sanford while covering his campaign)—raising renewed concerns about journalistic ethics.

  “If it’s true… this is the second presidential candidate that she’s covered and slept with at the same time… a pattern… that’s not okay by anyone’s measure.” (Megyn, 43:28)

• Vanity Fair criticized for hiring her; Megyn and Emily push back, noting Nuzzi’s new role is as an essayist, not a hard news reporter.

  “If she’s writing in first person, new journalism style, by all means… we should be begging her to continue writing at this point because she’s giving so much.” (Emily, 39:50)

Moral Impressions and Advice

• Megyn cautions young journalists to decide their boundaries before entering the field, emphasizing talent and integrity over manufactured notoriety:

  “The best and really only way to make your name in this industry is through your talent.” (Megyn, 45:21)

2. THE POLITICS OF CANCEL CULTURE

(Segment: 81:43–94:34)

The Dasha Nekrasova/Red Scare Blacklisting

• Dasha Nekrasova, actress and co-host of Red Scare, loses her agency and a film role after a campaign by industry peer Jonathan Brown, based not on her words but her choice of podcast guests.

  “Her agency and the movie have dumped her… because she has a podcast on which she invites controversial figures. And they too, Emily, do not like the way she interviews those people.” (Megyn, 85:41)

• Emily points out Red Scare is an entertainment, not news, podcast—so holding actresses to the same “moral actor” standard as politicians/journalists is absurd.

  “The idea that an artist has to be a moral actor is… a sentimental canard of Victorian moralism.” (Emily quoting Camille Paglia, 87:51)

• Both hosts lament the damaging effect of policing who is allowed to have a voice:

  “It is more important right now to figure out why is he [Fuentes] so popular than to just try to cancel anybody who is trying to figure it out.” (Megyn, 88:59)

3. POLITICAL SMEAR TACTICS AND GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

(J.D. Vance, Tucker/Buckley Carlson, Antisemitism, and Conservative Infighting: 63:43–77:20)

Targeting Tucker Carlson’s Son to Smear Vance

• J.D. Vance (VP) fiercely defends Buckley Carlson (Tucker’s son), his young staffer, against allegations simply due to his parentage.

  “Every time I see a public attack on Buckley, it’s a complete lie… everyone who I’ve seen attack Buckley with lies is a scumbag.” (J.D. Vance, 67:24)

• Both hosts condemn “guilt by association” as illiberal and damaging—a tactic once used exclusively by the left, now recurring on the right.
• Conservative infighting over Israel/antisemitism allegations—and attempts to force Vance to denounce Tucker or others—are critiqued as “public virtue signaling.”

  “Too often it becomes virtue-signaling along the lines of the same thing we saw over the last 10 years from the left.” (Emily, 71:14)

• Megyn plays a J.D. Vance clip on Nick Fuentes to show he has, in fact, indisputably denounced him.

  “Of course it doesn’t have any room in the MAGA movement. And of course, you disavow him.” (Vance, 74:13)

4. MEDIA, FBI, & TRUMP SHOOTING COVER-UP CLAIMS

(Investigative Journalism, Online Footprints, and Transparency: 52:17–64:00)

• Megyn and Emily break down the ongoing investigation/non-disclosure of Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’s online history.
• Journalists like Tucker Carlson, Miranda Devine, and Brianna Morello are breaking the news that the FBI appeared to miss (or withhold) the shooter’s extensive violent, left-leaning footprint—questioning FBI transparency and priorities.

  “There are two possible explanations. Neither of them is good. One is that the FBI didn’t know any of this, which I don’t buy. The second explanation is just that they’ve been keeping it from the public for some reason.” (Emily, 58:33)

5. GENERATIONAL AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY

(Advice to Young Journalists, Relationships, & Social Trends: 94:34–102:17)

• Extended riff on careerism, romantic entanglements, and setting boundaries for young professionals.
• Bill Ackman’s advice for young men meeting women (“May I meet you?”) is lampooned as effective only for billionaire financiers, not regular guys.

  “The idea of going up to somebody and saying, may I meet you, with a $50,000 Rolex on… definitely going to work every single time.” (Emily, 97:51)

• Both agree on the need for more organic, less digital, meet-cutes, and a restoration of gender norms in dating—delivered with levity and candor.

  “Making a woman laugh is like a beeline to most women’s hearts. 'May I meet you?' would probably project to me, this person’s gonna be bad in bed.” (Megyn, 98:29)

6. MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• Megyn on Nuzzi/Kennedy:
  “If you marry a Kennedy, I would not be expecting fidelity… When you fall in love and then you marry, like, what do you think is going to happen?” (17:27)
• Emily on Journalistic Ethics:
  “If she’s not covering the daily TikTok… and just sort of… from a literary perspective… let’s be begging her to write at this point because she's giving so much.” (39:50)
• Emily on Cancel Culture:
  “These are the types of people that think very highly of themselves. And Lizza… thinks he's coming across in a way that repairs his reputation. But actually, it is so profoundly unmasculine… to treat a woman you were with this way.” (40:24)
• Megyn on Guilt by Association:
  “Most conservatives will recoil when faced with the choices of like, say it, say it my way rather than get on board. That is just not for us. That’s not how we've operated.” (72:18)
• Emily on Virtue-Signaling:
  “I do feel like this post from Dave was kind of verging on public virtue signal. And that is the stuff that’s going to needlessly tear people apart.” (71:01)
• Emily quoting Camille Paglia:
  “The idea that an artist has to be a moral actor is a sentimental canard of Victorian moralism.” (87:51)

7. ADDITIONAL TOPICS

• Trends of young men’s social isolation; critiques of remote work and anti-alcohol/health fads (with a Bill Maher show clip).
• Generational changes in relationship attitudes, and concern over the social/romantic prospects for young people.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHT TIMESTAMPS

• 03:56–20:44: The Nuzzi-Kennedy Affair and Industry Reactions
• 20:44–31:14: Excerpt Analysis, Professional Ethics, and Past Relationships
• 31:14–43:49: Lizza’s Tell-All and Public Backlash
• 47:37–52:17: Transition to News (Ads/Segment Shift)
• 52:17–64:00: Trump Shooter, FBI Transparency, & Investigative Journalism
• 63:43–77:20: Guilt by Association: JD Vance, Buckley Carlson, and Right-wing Infighting
• 81:43–88:59: Red Scare and Hollywood Cancel Culture
• 94:34–102:17: Generational Commentary and Dating Advice

CONCLUSION

This episode is quintessential Megyn Kelly Show: fast-paced, gossipy, intellectually curious, and combative against both old-guard media hypocrisies and modern moral panics. With sharp, often humorous exchanges, Megyn and Emily traverse the tangled landscapes of politics, media, and cancel culture—reminding listeners to value talent and truth above scandal or orthodoxy.