The NBC personality was given a raucous round of applause after expressing her remorse for the comments from the day before.
An emotional Megyn Kelly delivered an apology Wednesday for suggesting that it's OK for people to dress in blackface for Halloween.
The remarks in question occurred Tuesday during a panel discussion about Halloween costume controversies.
"You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween," Kelly said. "Back when I was a kid, that was OK just as long as you were dressing as a character."
Speaking Wednesday, Kelly opened her hour of the "Today" show with a mea culpa.
"I want to begin with two words, I'm sorry," she said. "The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor. ... Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too."
Kelly had previously apologized to her NBC colleagues, an email obtained by The Hollywood Reporter showed.
"One of the wonderful things about my job is that I get the chance to express and hear a lot of opinions," she wrote. "Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including from friends and colleagues, is leading me to rethink my own views."
Earlier Wednesday, NBC's weather anchor Al Roker appeared visibly angry on Wednesday morning as he spoke about Kelly's remarks.
“While she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country because this is a history going back to the 1830s. Minstrel shows to demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right,” Roker said.
Kelly ultimately turned the first part of her show into a learning experience, speaking with PBS’ “In Principle” co-host Amy Holmes and Roland Martin of the digital show “Roland Martin Unfiltered” about race in America.
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