Megyn Kelly reads an advertisement for Shen Yun. (Screen grab via YouTube)
On Tuesday, Megyn Kelly might have surprised some listeners during her popular MAGA-friendly podcast by reading an advertisement with a personal appeal to purchase tickets to a Shen Yun performance. "I really recommend you check it out,” Kelly said.
While host-read ads are a common practice, on Kelly’s program and elsewhere, this one in particular was an enthusiastic endorsement for a touring dance company that has long drawn scrutiny over its ties to the Chinese cult-like Falun Gong movement with a documented history of alleged abuse, according to an extensive New York Times investigation published last year. According to The Times, Shen Yun has been increasingly positioned as a propaganda tool, promoting an anti-Communist message while also encouraging reverence for Falun Gong’s founder and spiritual leader, Li Hongzhi. Two recents federal lawsuits also accused Shen Yun of subjecting dancers as young as 13 years old to harsh, forced child‑labor conditions that caused lasting physical and emotional harm, allegations the company denied.
If listeners of “The Megyn Kelly Show” weren’t aware of the controversial history of the traveling Shen Yun dance company, they certainly weren’t going to find out through…
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