"Kelly File" host Megyn Kelly welcomed actor and author D.L. Hughley to her show Wednesday night to reflect on last week's fatal police-involved shootings of black men Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota, respectively. Both instances were caught on cell phone cameras and have been widely circulated.
"It is my belief that no matter what happens, no matter what we see, the cops are given a presumption of innocence," Hughley said. "If that same tape showed a suspect doing something, that would be all the prosecution would need."
After some cross-talk, Kelly invoked the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, where the Department of Justice, she noted, found evidence of "endemic racism" in the Ferguson Police Department, but "also exonerated Officer Darren Wilson."
"They found 'hands up, don't shoot' was a lie and that Michael Brown was the aggressor," Kelly added.
"Wow," said Hughley.
"Don't 'wow' me," said Kelly.
"Don't tell me not to 'wow' you," said Hughley.
The two nearly screaming at each other, Kelly then said Brown "grabbed that officer's gun and tried to shoot him in his patrol car," which is at least partially corroborated by the Justice Department's investigation.
"The only place that racism doesn't exist is Fox News and the police department," Hughley responded sarcastically.
"That's insulting," Kelly replied. "You've just insulted millions of people watching this channel."
"I'm insulted by the things I hear on this network," Hughley said. "So we're even. I could care less about people who insult me on a daily basis."
Kelly tried to reign in the shouting match by referring back to an earlier point that Hughley was about to make, that white and black perception of events like police shootings differ greatly.
"I'll give you that. Most reasonable people will give you that," Kelly said. "But you know what shuts down all reasonable dialogue is throwing out the term racism before it's been proven."
Watch the full interview below:
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