Megyn Kelly Trolls Ben Shapiro for Branding Her a 'Coward' and Drops Him as a Friend: 'I Helped Make Him a Star'

Megyn Kelly clapped back at former friend Ben Shapiro after he labeled her as a "coward" for not denouncing Candace Owens' conspiracies about Charlie Kirk's assassination.

The journalist, 55, trolled Shapiro, 41, during a sit-down with Jack Posobiec at Turning Point's AmFest 2025 conference on December 19 and responded to his verbal attack on her.

"I found it kind of funny that Ben thinks he has the power to decide who gets excommunicated from the conservative movement, which shows a willful blindness about his position in it," Kelly said.

"But so I resent the whole thing. I object to the whole thing. He had the nerve to call me a friend right before he called me 'a despicable coward' for not calling out the people he wants called out," she went on.

Shapiro mocked Kelly and Owens, 36, and called the former "The Megyn Kelly Show" host a "coward" during a talk on the first day of AmFest conference on Thursday. He also called her out for "characterizing Candace as a young mother and thus shying away from condemning her actions."

Owens has been spreading theories, which contribute to the belief that Kirk's September murder was an inside job.

Kelly went on to bash Shapiro, saying that he "wants to parent me and be my child."

"He wants to tell me what I have to do," she said. "And some of his friends want to act like other victims, because I won't do what they say. They need me... and I resent that he thinks he's in a position to decide who must say what to whom and when."

She also denounced their friendship, noting how she helped him get his start in political media.

"Nobody knew who the heck Ben Shapiro was when I started putting him on my shows on the Fox News Channel," she declared.

"I helped make him a star. And I've been very, very good to Ben over the years, and he’s been good to me too. So I don't think we are friends anymore. I've been a very good friend to Ben," Kelly said, adding that she "knows [he's] losing subscribers."

The host then opened up about how much she's been a good friend to the former Breitbart News editor by inviting him to come on her tour.

"I gave him the most kind introduction I could possibly give him, and I tried to do something nice for him by giving him a long ten-minute intro and personally vouching for him," she said. "And when it was over, we hugged, said goodbye, and then we had a nice text exchange a couple days later, saying our friendship was important to us, and the next thing I saw was him attacking me on stage last night as a coward."

"So that's not friendship, and I think that's fine with me, we’re friends like that," Kelly said.