Why Gayle King Thinks Megyn Kelly Will Get a Second Chance in Wake of Scandal (Exclusive)

Gayle King believes in second chances.

ET caught up with the Editor at Large of O, The Oprah Magazine at the publication's office in New York, on Friday, where she shared her thoughts on Megyn Kelly’s recent controversial blackface comments that ultimately led to the cancelation of her show, Megyn Kelly Today.

“Listen, only NBC executives know exactly why Megyn was let go so I'm not going to speculate on the reason,” the CBS This Morning host, 63, expressed. “I just know this -- anybody that's involved in the news business never wants to be the new story in this manner, nobody ever does. And I think that what her boss said the other day is that this is just a really unfortunate situation, and you know that's their call to make.”

“This is what I know,” she continued. “I know Megyn Kelly, I've spent time with her. I know that she is very smart at what she does. I think she's very good at what she does, and I absolutely believe that she will get a second chance from somebody. I don't know where, I don't know when, I don't know how. But you know, I feel now everybody is sort of piling on Megyn Kelly all at one time and I always think that's a very difficult position to be in.”

Megyn Kelly Defends Blackface Halloween Costumes

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Megyn Kelly Defends Blackface Halloween Costumes

“But I know that she will get through this. I think that this is very difficult, but I think that her comments were also very painful and hurtful to a lot of people,” she added. “So I think it's lessons learned from her, lessons learned to a lot of people who are watching this situation. But I'm not going to be one of the ones piling on Megyn Kelly at this time.”

Kelly’s comments made this week struck up backlash when the 47-year-old journalist defended the use of blackface in Halloween costumes, questioning, "What is racist?" She apologized in a tearful message to viewers on Wednesday's episode of her show, as well as privately to her staff.

King, on her end, has yet to reach out to her. “I don't want it to appear that I'm trying to be..." she trailed off before telling ET, "I'll just say this to you, I intend to reach out to her, but I have not reached out to her yet."

“I didn't want to do it at this time, I don't want her to think that I'm trying to get an interview or I'm trying to capitalize or exploit it,” she explained. “But no, I haven't reached out to her at this time. But I intend to.”

As far as replacing Kelly on NBC, King says that the network “never consults me about who they want to hire. So I'm going to stay out of the decisions they make on who they hire, when, where and how. I'm going to leave it up to them.”

“I just want to keep my own job and do the best I can at CBS This Morning and O, the Oprah Magazine. That's what I want to do,” she said.

For more on Kelly’s recent scandal, watch below.

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'Megyn Kelly Today' Reportedly Canceled: A Look Back at Her Past Scandals

Megyn Kelly's NBC Future: What We Know

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