Megyn Kelly rants about ‘obese lesbian’ firefighters tackling LA blazes: ‘We want a strong man to rescue us’
Conservative media personality Megyn Kelly claimed the Los Angeles Fire Department fire chief was “an obese lesbian” and asserted she, and other cisgender women, should not be rescuing people as the fire department works to battle fatal wildfires in the area.
Criticizing the department’s efforts to respond to the raging fires, Kelly repeated claims that the LAFD had overly prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion rather than firefighting resources.
“I believe I speak for all females in Los Angeles when I say, we want a strong man to rescue us,” Kelly said on Monday. “That’s what we want. Do we ask for too much?”
Kelly took aim at three women who lead the LAFD on her podcast The Megyn Kelly Show this past week as the fire department works to contain fast-moving and deadly wildfires that have engulfed the Pacific Palisades and other neighborhoods.
Specifically, she referred to Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, a 22-year veteran and the department’s first woman and LGBTQ+ fire chief, Kristine Larson, a 33-year veteran and the department’s equity and human resources bureau head, and Jamie Brown, the training and support bureau commander.
“Not to mention it’s like these three women who are the top there are all, I mean honestly I’m not trying to be mean, but they’re obese. These are overweight, out of shape women. And the last thing I want to see, if I’m in a burning building is A. a woman and B. an obese woman,” Kelly said.
“Who takes comfort? I’m going to die but it’s in the pressence of an obese lesbian,” she added.
Crowley, Larson and Brown are the only three women on the LAFD 14-person leadership team, acocrding to the LAFD’s website.
But conservatives, including Kelly, have taken their roles at the department and turned them into a politically-driven decision that has had a negative impact on the department. It’s part of a larger movement to get rid of DEI policies throughout the country.
Those people have blamed the department’s DEI program funding as the reason it was unprepared to fight the outrageous blazes.
“No fire agency is going to sacrifice training and fundamental fire control and fundamental operations at the expense of DEI training,” Mike Beasley, head of the board of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Econoloy told NPR.
“There is no number of people that will stop all the fires in the middle of a hot, dry season with the climate charged fuel aridity. There just isn’t,” Beasley added.
However, criticisms about funding to the LAFD is a genuine concern for Crowley.
Last year, public officials slashed millions from the department’s budget which led the fire chief to draft a memo saying the cuts “severely limited the Department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
