Megyn Kelly and NBC face criticism for an interview with controversial radio host Alex Jones.
Megyn Kelly and NBC are facing criticism for an upcoming TV interview with the controversial radio host Alex Jones.
Opposition quickly surfaced soon after promotional videos of the interview with the InfoWars founder, scheduled for the June 18 episode of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, were first shown during the June 11 episode and appeared online .
A #ShameonNBC hashtag began trending on Twitter with an outcry of concern about giving a platform to Jones, who in the past has supported conspiracy theories about the government blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the 9/11 terror attacks. “9/11 was an inside job, ” he says in the promo video.
But what has upset people most, at least on Twitter, is Jones’ allegation that the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 children and six adults were shot, was faked.
“It’s a miracle no #sandyhook parent has ended their life yet. The loss of a loved one and the constant harrassment is too much. @megynkelly, ” tweeted Nelba Márquez-Greene (@Nelba_MG) , whose daughter Ana was killed in the shooting and her son survived.
Some on Twitter also called for a boycott of the program; one user included NBC’s phone number and urged others to pass it on.
“Sickening” is how The Huffington Post described the development. Several other media outlets weighed in on the situation, too. CNN contributor Ana Navarro tweeted: “This is so painful for #SandyHook loved ones. I can’t control what @NBC or others do, but I control what I do. I will not watch @megynkelly.”
Kelly addressed the outcry, tweeting herself that President Trump has been on Jones’ radio program, The Alex Jones Show, and “praises” Jones. “He’s giving Infowars a WH press credential. Many don’t know him; our job is 2 shine a light, ” she tweeted.
The Infowars.com site draws more than six million unique global visitors a month and his YouTube channel has more than two million subscribers. President Trump appeared on Jones’ show in December 2015 and has repeated some of Jones’ conspiracy theories including the allegation of voter fraud in the presidential election.
In the interview preview, Kelly asks Jones if he is “the most paranoid man in America.”
“Absolutely not, ” he says. “A paranoid person would be hiding out in their house not venturing out in public. I go out there on the street and battle BlackLivesMatter (and) the communists at point-blank range.”
About Sandy Hook, Kelly tells Jones, “When you say parents faked their children’s death, people get very angry.”
His response: “They don’ t get irate about the half million dead Iraqis from sanctions …”
“That’s a dodge, ” Kelly says.
Jones also adds: “Thirty years ago, they began creating animal-human hybrids. Isn’ t that the big story Megan Kelly should be doing?”
NBC and Kelly’s booking of Jones is not necessarily inappropriate, says Angelo Carusone, president of liberal media activist group Media Matters. “There actually is a really compelling case to be made that you should shine a light on Alex Jones because of his relationship with the current president, ” he said.
However, Carusone expects, based on the preview and Kelly’s past performances — including last week’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin — “it appears that the reason of having Alex Jones on was not to really draw a meaningful critique of the way that the current president gets his information and who he gets it from.”
A softball interview, “allows him to promote himself, ” he said. “The idea he is on NBC, in and of itself, is a really big deal. What that says for his audience is that he is so important and powerful that even the people that Alex Jones speaks the worst of can’ t ignore him anymore.”
Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider .
