Megyn Kelly was not impressed with country music star Zach Bryan after he apologized and deactivated his social media account in response to backlash for saying that he liked Kanye “Ye” West more than Taylor Swift.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry, Zach Bryan, where are your balls? Mankind would like to know,” the journalist who hosts the SiriusXM podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show” said during her Thursday broadcast.
Bryan, the country singer-songwriter known for hits including “Heading South” and “Condemned,” provoked Swift fans after he posted an item on X indicating that he preferred the rapper known as Ye over their iconic pop star.
“Eagles > chiefs, Kanye > Taylor,” Bryan wrote on his X account on Sept. 17, adding: “Who’s with me.”
The Eagles was a reference to the Philadelphia football team while the Chiefs are their rivals from Kansas City. Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, plays for the Chiefs.
Earlier this week, the 28-year-old Bryan recanted, offering a lengthy apology on Instagram in which he claimed that he was drunk when he posted the item on X that infuriated the “Swifties.”
“This was very dumb, Zach,” Kelly said on her show on Thursday.
Kelly then took issue with the backlash, saying: “The nerve. That sexist pig…”
“Zach, the internet is not with you because you apparently are not allowed to make negative comments about Taylor Swift,” she said, adding: “Well, guess what, internet? We do it here all the time!”
Kelly said Bryan’s move to deactivate his social media in response to the backlash showed a lack of courage.
“Oh, my God, I miss the real men. I’m sorry, Zach, but I miss real men,” Kelly said.
The host said she had “secondhand embarrassment” for Bryan after he “issued a profuse apology on his Instagram page.”
“Bryan poured his heart out, apparently hoping to stop the Swift mob from their hideous attacks…,” Kelly said.
She added: “Bring back our men!”
In his apology, Bryan sought to clarify that his admiration for Ye was artistic, and that he did not agree with antisemitic statements made by the rapper in recent years.
“For the record guys I wasn’t coming for Taylor the other night,” he wrote.
“I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong. I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically.”
Bryan added that he “love[s] Taylor’s music and pray[s] you guys know I’m human and tweet stupid things often.”
“Hope one day I can explain this to her,” the country music star wrote on Instagram.
“Twitter gets me in trouble too much and I’d say it’s best I stay off it. I’m sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down.”
Ye and Swift are considered rivals ever since the former interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.