Right-wing pundit Megyn Kelly recently accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of using a “blaccent” during a podcast episode, sparking a heated conversation that further devolved into controversy. On her show “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Kelly and guest Adam Carolla criticized Crockett’s appearance on the talk show “Sherri.” They played a clip where host Sherri Shepherd recalled Crockett’s 2024 hearing remark about former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), calling her a “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body.” This retort came after Greene insulted Crockett’s fake eyelashes.
When Shepherd asked Crockett how she prepares quick responses, Crockett replied, “There’s no preparation for that. I’m a Black woman in America,” adding she is “a Black woman first.” She continued, “The level of disrespect that is continuously lobbed against us as Black women... for me I’m like, wait a minute now, I am one of the 535 most powerful people in this country, and for some reason you think we’re on the same level but you’re going to disrespect me? It’s not going to happen.”
Mockery and Accusations
Kelly, who is white, mocked Crockett’s speech, saying, “She’s back with the blaccent. She doesn’t talk like that, right? She talks like you and I talk. But she dials it up. ‘I’m a Black woman first,’” mimicking Crockett. Carolla dismissed Crockett’s “535” remark as “narcissism,” then launched into a rant accusing Crockett, Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama of engaging in a “race hustle.” He said, “It’s by the way hurting your culture and your people. This ‘as a Black woman in America.’ Tell me about it bitch. I grew up poor, I grew up white. I dug ditches for a living and I couldn’t be a fireman in L.A. County because I’m white.” He later accused Black women of playing “the race card.” Kelly added that Crockett “would like us to think she’s a bigger idiot than she actually is.”
Expert Commentary on Racial Authenticity
The term “blaccent” typically refers to non-Black individuals mimicking Black culture. Crockett is Black, making Kelly’s attacks perplexing. Shaun Harper, a professor at USC, stated, “Paradoxically, the absurd one-sidedness of this is the actual race hustle that aims to mock and discredit Crockett and other talented Black women. What qualifies Kelly and Carolla to be the arbiters of Black authenticity? Nothing. Crockett’s authenticity is one of numerous features that appeals her to Black voters. More importantly, they appreciate how fiercely she defends their rights and holds her congressional peers accountable for anti-Black policymaking.” Harper added, “Given her obsession with them, Kelly should have Crockett and Michelle Obama on her show. I bet she won’t say to their faces what she so boldly and wrongly says about them to Carolla and others.”
Pattern of Attacks
Crockett frequently faces right-wing, anti-Black, and racist attacks, often targeting her speech, cadence, and use of AAVE. Conservatives accuse her of being disingenuous because her speech doesn’t align with their expectations for a private school and law school graduate. Last year, Laura Ingraham called Crockett “street,” and Greene claimed Crockett doesn’t understand the “Black American struggle” and puts on a fake persona. Civil rights attorney Portia Allen-Kyle previously told HuffPost that Greene’s remarks “proved that she doesn’t understand the reality that Blackness is disrespected in this country no matter how many degrees you hold or how much money you make. She reduces the Black experience to some caricature of poverty and struggle— as if class alone defines Blackness. That mindset exposes her bias. Greene thinks struggle is the only stamp of Blackness and she dresses up her ignorance as commentary.”
Crockett has responded to such fixation before. In a March 2024 TikTok, she said, “I don’t have an ‘accent’... if anything, it’s Texan, maybe mixed with a little bit of St. Louis. And then determining that my ‘accent’ is fake because of the types of schools I went to ... seriously, y’all?”
