NBC presenter Megyn Kelly apologises over blackface comments on air

US news presenter Megyn Kelly has apologised for a segment of her show which questioned why dressing up in blackface as part of a Halloween costume is wrong.

The NBC News host later wrote in an email to colleagues that she realised such behaviour is wrong and that the history of blackface in culture is abhorrent.

On her morning show, the 47-year-old news host said that when she was a child dressing up in blackface was okay as long as you were impersonating a character.

She questioned why it had been considered racist when a character on The Real Housewives of New York darkened her skin for a Diana Ross costume.

The presenter said: “I felt like, ‘Who doesn’t love Diana Ross’.”

“I was born in the same decade as Megyn Kelly and do not recall blackface being acceptable anywhere, anytime,” Alex Wagner from CBS News tweeted.

In her email, Kelly said that she had never been a "PC" person, but said that she understands that “we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age”.

She continued: “Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year.

"This is a time for more understanding, love, sensitivity and honour, and I want to be part of that."