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When Roginsky threw slavery into the debate, Michaels hit back hard, which drew immediate protest from Torres, who declared America’s history a “system of white supremacy.” Michaels fired back, noting that the Smithsonian often pushes sloppy narratives—like framing Cuban migration as “white people bad” instead of the actual reason: fleeing brutal communist dictator Fidel Castro.
Julie Roginsky:
“He’s effectively now got some random person deciding what is appropriate for the Smithsonian to teach in terms of American history—things that don’t offend parts of the MAGA base. We’re now literally reviewing parts of American history and parts of American culture to make sure it comports with dear leader and what the MAGA organization wants.”
Jillian Michaels:
“Can we address some of those things that are in there?.. Have you looked at some of the things that are being reviewed?”
Julie Roginsky:
“Yeah, slavery was a bad thing that we should talk about.”
Jillian Michaels:
“He’s not whitewashing slavery.”
Julie Roginsky:
“He’s not?”
Jillian Michaels:
“No, he’s not. You cannot tie imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race, which is pretty much what every single exhibit does… Do you realize that only less than 2% of white Americans owned slaves?”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY):
“But it was a system of white supremacy.”
Jillian Michaels:
“Do you realize that slavery is thousands of years old? Do you know who was the first race to try to end slavery?”
Host Abby Phillip tried to twist the conversation into a racial blame game, accusing Michaels of “litigating who benefited from slavery.” Michaels was quick to correct her.
Abby Phillip:
“I’m really surprised. I’m surprised that you’re trying to litigate who was the beneficiary of slavery and who was not.”
Jillian Michaels:
“I’m not. What I’m trying to tell you is that—”
Abby Phillip:
“In the context of American history, what are you saying is incorrect by saying that it was white people oppressing black people?”
Jillian Michaels:
“What I am saying is you cannot—every single thing is like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, this is all because white people bad.’ That’s just not the truth. For example, every single exhibit—I have a list of every single one—people migrated from Cuba because ‘white people bad,’ not because of Castro.”
When Phillip attempted to shut her down, claiming there wasn’t time to “litigate all of this,” Michaels wasn’t having it.
Abby Phillip:
“Jillian, you have a lot of stuff in front of you. What exactly are you talking about?”
Jillian Michaels:
“Okay, I’ll give you an example. There’s one called Change Your Game. This has been an installation there. ‘Is gender testing fair in sports?’ Then it goes on to talk about how it’s complex to do gender testing in sports. It’s not complex. It’s basic science. That’s untrue. It’s XX chromosome, XY chromosome. That’s sports. Is it fair to have biological men competing against biological women in sports? No. But why is this in the Smithsonian? It’s been completely captured.”
Abby Phillip:
“First of all, we don’t have time to litigate all of this.”
Jillian Michaels:
“Of course we don’t, because then you’re going to lose the argument. Everything is racialized, just like you’re trying to do to me now.”
By the time the panel moved on, Michaels had effectively pulled the curtain back on the Left’s media playbook: twist every topic into a racial grievance, push revisionist history, and shut down dissent.
Abby Phillip:
“Just to be clear, you brought up race. This was a conversation about the arts, and you brought up race.”
Jillian Michaels:
“It isn’t, though.”
Abby Phillip:
“You brought up slavery, and you brought up the question of whether—”
Jillian Michaels:
“I actually didn’t. You did.”
Abby Phillip:
“You brought up the question of whether or not slavery in the United States is about race. The answer is yes. Slavery in the United States is about race.”
Jillian Michaels:
“No, don’t straw man my argument because that’s not what I said.”
Abby Phillip:
“What are you talking about?”
Jillian Michaels:
“[Julie Roginsky] brought up slavery. What I was talking about is that this isn’t really about that. When you make every single exhibit about white imperialism, when it isn’t relevant at all, that is a problem. When you’re talking about Cubans leaving Cuba and you make it about ‘white people bad,’ that’s not accurate. That’s my point.”
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