Megyn Kelly

goes for a stroll around NYC on Oct. 31 following the cancellation of her show.

In the wake of the controversy that led NBC to pull the plug on Megyn Kelly on Oct. 26, the former Today host reached out to Luann de Lesseps to apologize “for dragging her into all of this,” a source tells Us. (While insisting that wearing blackface on Halloween wasn’t racist, Kelly, 48, referenced de Lesseps’ 2017 Diana Ross costume.) The Real Housewives of New York star, 53, “isn’t mad,” says the source. Kelly’s former NBC colleagues, on the other hand, are less than thrilled about the whole ordeal. “Morale is extremely low,” notes an insider. And the network’s culture (which another source describes as “cliquish and competitive”) could make replacing Kelly a rocky process. One contender, Al Roker, “doesn’t necessarily want to return” as the host of the show’s third hour, says the insider. “It’s honestly quite offensive that NBC would just assume he would.”

As lawyers continue to hash out the terms of Kelly’s departure, “things have been very tense,” a source tells Us.

After Kelly’s blunder, Roker, 64, said on air she owes an “apology to folks of color around the country,” says the insider.