Rich Lowry Denies Almost Uttering N-Word After Megyn Kelly Appearance Sets Off Social Media Firestorm

National Review editor-in-chief Rich Lowry denied almost uttering the N-word on Monday after an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show sparked a wave of backlash.

During a discussion about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, Lowry appeared to mess up his pronunciation of “Haitian migrants,” instead making a sound which, to many social media users, seemingly bore close resemblance to the slur against African-Americans which begins with an N.

“The editor in chief of the National Review just said the N word in regards to Haitians and Megyn Kelly ignores it,” claimed journalist Alejandra Caraballo , receiving more than 47,000 likes.

“Having a hard time coming to any conclusion besides the obvious one about what Rich Lowry catches himself blurting out here,” weighed in Media Matters’ Madeline Peltz.

Following the backlash, National Review contributing editor Andy McCarthy took to social media to defend Lowry from the “ridiculous” allegations.

McCarthy claimed Lowry had “obviously got crossed up between ‘immigrants’ (short i) and migrants (long i) — started mispronouncing “migrants” with short i,” and then “instantly corrected himself with no embarrassment because it was patently a mispronunciation.”

Lowry shared McCarthy’s explanation and wrote, “Yep, this is exactly what happened—I began to mispronounce the word ‘migrants’ and caught myself halfway through.”

While Washington Examiner senior writer David Harsanyi agreed, tweeting , “The notion that Rich Lowry is using the n word is beyond stupid. This is a gross smear,” many social media users remained convinced that Lowry had in fact nearly uttered the N-word, and posted clips of his slip-up slowed down by 50%.