Stars Who Didn't Hold Back Their Distaste For Kristi Noem

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Kristi Noem has done a number of controversial things over the years both as Donald Trump's second term Department of Homeland Security Secretary and as the governor of South Dakota. And while there's no politician, or person, who is perfect, Noem seems to be a particularly polarizing figure. In that role, she's been called out by a range of people, from country singers to talk show hosts to her fellow conservatives.

Even huge swathes of her own home state of South Dakota don't seem to like Noem. She seems particularly invested in how people see her in South Dakota, if Noem's questions about her tasteless governor's portrait are any indication. But at various points in 2024, all of the nine indigenous tribes in South Dakota said that Noem is not welcome on their land. Their ban came for a number of differing reasons, including Noem's comments about the American border with Mexico and how she feels it impacts South Dakota, her description of how indigenous parents treat their children, and her treatment of indigenous people when she was governor. The criticisms have continued to roll in from others across the nation.

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly has come after Kristi Noem for her looks, including her speculated use of Botox and hair extensions. But that's not the only thing she doesn't like about Noem. And she hasn't been too impressed with Noem's penchant for wearing what look like costumes as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary. On an April 2025 episode of the podcast "The Megyn Kelly Show," Kelly couldn't wrap her head around why Noem kept doing so many photo ops. "Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it," Kelly said. "As you cosplay ICE agent, which you're not. ... She's not an agent. She is an administrative policy person. ... No one wants you there."

In April 2025, Noem posted video and photos of herself in tactical gear and holding a gun next to men who are presumably actual ICE agents or other law enforcement agents. It wasn't the first time she'd shared pictures of herself wearing an ICE vest, and, as Kelly noted, it was always with a full face of makeup and her hair perfectly coiffed.

Some people in the YouTube comments for the podcast were supporting Noem, but there were others who were loving the shade from Kelly. One wrote, "Megyn being a Mean Girl and petty is SOOOOO ENTERTAINING AND FUN!!!! I'm here for it!!!!" Pretty much every social media platform had people on Kelly's side. On Instagram, someone commented: "Yeah — it's the hair being all in perfect place and presenting the weapon just so, that is over the top. Do better." And on X, someone said of Noem: "She's like a televangelist. Not a good look."

Plenty of late night TV show hosts came after Kristi Noem, particularly after she revealed that she killed her 14-month-old dog Cricket for being, what she called, "untrainable," per The Guardian. The story was included in her 2024 book "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward," and it didn't win her many fans. Jordan Klepper on "The Daily Show" seemed baffled by the whole situation: "Was there really nothing else that could have been done with a misbehaving puppy?"

On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Colbert said, "And it is worth pointing out: no one made Noem confess to puppy snuffing." He joked about what it was that made Cricket such a bad dog in Noem's eyes. "Cricket made the fatal mistake of continuing to be a normal puppy ..." and Colbert quipped that a draft title for her book might have been, "Old Yeller 2: He Had It Comin'."

Seth Meyers came after her on his show as well. He referred to the situation of both killing Cricket and telling people she did as showing "a level of psycho I didn't even know existed," per "Late Night with Seth Meyers." He also brought up the time that Noem promoted a cosmetic dentist she went to; she was sued over the video.

The hosts of "The View" have also chimed in on a number of Kristi Noem's controversial moments, and many of them aren't impressed. During a "Hot Topics" portion of the show in April 2024, they discussed the death of Cricket at Noem's hand. Whoopi Goldberg said of the puppy, "Give it back, b****, give it back!" (via X).

And Alyssa Farah Griffin, who once worked for Donald Trump, agreed with Goldberg. "If you have a really challenging dog, there are countless organizations to re-home them to somebody who loves the dog enough. I want justice for Cricket. This is, it's terrible." Sunny Hostin thought that killing a dog showed Noem's true character (and not in a good way), and Ana Navarro equated Noem to Disney villain Cruella de Vil.

The women also came after Noem when it came to Donald Trump administration's policies on immigration in May 2025. Noem has been a notorious hardliner when it comes to border control. When discussing her testifying in front of a congressional committee about some of the deportation decisions being made by the Trump admin, Hostin said, "Having Kristi Noem be in charge of Homeland Security in and of itself is an insult" (via YouTube).

In June 2021, Reba McEntire was listed as a special guest at a $500-per-person barbecue in support of Kristi Noem. But it turns out, McEntire wasn't ever going to be making an appearance, nor had she even known about it. One of the little known facts about McEntire is that she once would exchange friendly emails with George H. W. Bush, so we know that she doesn't have anything against Republican politicians in general. But she wasn't having it with the Noem fundraiser. She posted on X in response to the fundraiser for Noem that had her name attached, "Throughout my career, I have stated that I do not get involved in politics and that remains true today."

Some were backing McEntire in the comments. One said: "Reba has ALWAYS said she doesn't like to bring up politics. So incredibly sloppy, tacky and embarrassing of her event organizers and reflects poorly on the delusional [Kristi Noem] though she doesn't seem to need much help in that arena." Though there were others who seemingly thought that McEntire had somehow caved to Noem's opponents by not performing at Noem's fundraiser.

You never know how a fanbase will react to what an artist does (or doesn't do) in the political sphere. One thing we do know is that there's unlikely to be a McEntire performance at a Noem event anytime soon.