Megyn Kelly made what many deemed "offending remarks" during a roundtable discussion about inappropriate and offensive costumes on her eponymous one-hour block of the "Today" show, known as "Megyn Kelly Today." She said, "Back when I was a kid it was OK on Halloween."
As you'll see in the video attached Chris Cuomo assures her (though his guest is actually Don Lemon) that it was never OK, and his guest agrees wholeheartedly. In 1977 I was Jimmy "JJ" Walker for Halloween. At 10 years old I thought he was hilarious, especially when he shouted "Dy-no-mite!" "Good Times" was my favorite TV show. We'd burn a corkscrew ever-so-slightly and apply ash to our faces to be characters we loved. A few years later a Portuguese friend of mine was Lando Calrissian for Halloween, as that was his favorite "Star Wars" character. Some ten years later two friends of mine would show up at a Halloween party as Crockett & Tubbs, from "Miami Vice." Not one jaw ever dropped. With regard to that last memory, this was during my college years and plenty of African-American classmates were there, not a single one of them doing anything other than laughing. In fact, a few came as a portion of the Justice League. I remember Superman and Aqua Man, in particular. Nobody blinked at that either.
But, as S.E. Hinton famously wrote: "That was then, this is now."