Overview

• On an Instagram Live, Katie Couric said Jillian Michaels is not a historian and criticized her comments for ignoring slavery’s institutional impact.
• Historian Douglas Brinkley emphasized that slavery and the Civil War are central to U.S. history and urged serious study and context.
• In a Fox News Digital interview, Michaels denied defending slavery and accused CNN’s Abby Phillip and the Huffington Post of lying about her remarks.
• Michaels reiterated that slavery is evil but argued it cannot be laid at the feet of one race, and she described the backlash as cancel culture while citing insults aimed at her family.
• The CNN exchange occurred during debate over the White House’s effort to steer Smithsonian content toward “uplifting” narratives, which critics on the program framed as whitewashing.