In yet another instance of Vice President Kamala Harris having her facts wrong, she just lamented the ‘fact’ that women’s college basketball did not have March Madness brackets until 2022.
The only problem? The tournament has existed since 1982 and Harris filled out her own bracket in 2021.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Mary Katharine Ham, host of Getting Hammered, and Bridget Phetasy, host of Walk-Ins Welcome and Dumpster Fire, to discuss Harris’ failed attempt to have a feminist hero moment.
Fact Check
At an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, Harris spoke with Spectrum News’ Tim Boyum. The reporter brought up the spike in interest in women’s college basketball as evidenced by record-setting television ratings from Monday night’s Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU.
That led Harris to try to school Boyum on the history of the women’s tournament, claiming the popularity boost came from the introduction of brackets… in 2022.
HARRIS: Do you know– okay, a bit of a history lesson. Do you know that women were not– the women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022? Think about that. And what? That. Talk about progress. You know better late than never, but progress and what that has done. Because of course, when, you know, I had a bracket and it’s not broken completely, but I won’t talk about my bracket. But you know, just how we love, we love March Madness. And even just now allowing the women to have brackets and what that does to encourage people to talk more about the women’s teams, to watch them now they’re being covered, you know, and, and this is the reality people used to say are women’s sports. Who’s interested? Well, if you can’t see it, you won’t be. But when you see it, you realize, oh.
In reality, the NCAA women’s tournament has existed with some sort of bracket system since 1982. “[This is] the likely next president, if Joe Biden gets reelected anyway,” Megyn said. “She’s very interested in NCAA basketball… [but] it’s possible that she’s even less connected to the basketball world than I am.”
VP Misspeak
The mistake is particularly awkward when you consider that Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff publicly filled out brackets as recently as 2021.
The vice president’s office later confirmed to various media outlets that Harris misspoke. She apparently conflated her facts and meant to say the “March Madness” copyright was only made available to the women’s tournament in 2022.
Given Harris’ perceived confidence in the clip, Ham said it reflects poorly on her team. “Like, who is briefing her? Who decided that this was a talking point,” she asked. “It’s like [me saying], ‘I think they had to play in petticoats until 1994’… It is just completely made up.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ham and Phetasy by tuning in to episode 759 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.