43.4 F
Memphis
Friday, March 29, 2024

Buy now

spot_img

Megyn Kelly’s Interview with Alex Jones Was a Waste of Everyone’s Time

Megyn Kelly interviewing Alex Jones (NBC screenshot)

Megyn Kelly is full of shit. If there’s anyone who knows that in today’s media climate, simply seeking to “expose” a propagandist is typically a fool’s errand, it would be the former host of a Fox News primetime show.

So, when Kelly released a statement in response to criticism over her choice to interview the conspiracy theory-shilling loon Alex Jones, she did so with willful ignorance.

After the loss of an advertiser and a rescinded invitation to serve as host of Sandy Hook’s Promise gala, Kelly wrote:

Advertisement

“I understand and respect the decision of the event organizers but I’m of course disappointed that I won’t be there to support them on Wednesday night. I find Alex Jones’s suggestion that Sandy Hook was ‘a hoax’ as personally revolting as every other rational person does.”

Yet, she defended her choice to feature him on her news magazine show, Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly:

“Our goal in sitting down with him was to shine a light — as journalists are supposed to do — on this influential figure, and yes — to discuss the considerable falsehoods he has promoted with near impunity.”

This is a woman who purposely overstated the influence of the New Black Panther Party — to the point where write-ups about her show netted headlines like “Megyn Kelly’s Minstrel Show.” In the years after, Kelly served her Fox News viewers more racial folklore to the delight of their thinly veiled prejudices. What cost did Kelly ever pay for being a racial demagogue? A news show on NBC, another morning news hour on the horizon and unwarranted praise as a serious journalist. Yeah, that’ll teach people in media to act right!

Advertisement

If the less direct racism perpetuated by Republicans over the past half-century by way of the Southern Strategy gave way to the 45th president of the United States, similarly, the sort of half-truths, hyperbole, if not flat-out lies peddled by the likes of Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly on Fox News gave way to Infowars’ Alex Jones. There is no sense in trying to expose a known liar like Jones. All it does is further legitimatize him. Meanwhile, Vox’s Brian Resnick recently touched on the science behind the realization that Kelly featuring Jones on his show may actually only help further spread his lies.

Of course, the interview aired anyway despite the controversy, only with some reported retooling by Kelly and NBC News. The interview began by Kelly addressing the controversy. “Some thought we shouldn’t broadcast this interview because his baseless allegations aren’t just offensive, they’re dangerous,” Kelly explained. “But here’s the thing: Alex Jones isn’t going away.”

No, but whether or not he deserves to be the subject of a 20-minute interview on an NBC News-supported platform is the real “thing” to grapple.

Advertisement

Kelly still doesn’t get it, which is exactly why the interview was a pointless bore to watch. There appears to be a few critics who feel otherwise, though. The New York Times had the headline “Megyn Kelly Presses Alex Jones on Conspiracy Theories in NBC Interview.” What interview were they watching? I saw Jones ramble for minutes on end without real pushback from Kelly (Los Angeles Times writer Lorraine Ali agreed with me).

At the Washington Post, you get “Facing Alex Jones, NBC’s Megyn Kelly Manages to Avoid a Worst-Case Outcome.” Over at the Hollywood Reporter, the headline read “Megyn Kelly Works Hard Not to Sully Herself With Alex Jones Interview.” She worked hard, but not hard enough. There are a few more generous reviews of Kelly’s interview with Jones, only they all make me harken back to a piece published by the Daily Beast entitled “Why Are You Still Falling For Megyn Kelly?

Indeed, why are some of you? What has she ever done to warrant such low expectations and constant grading on the curve? If Barbara Walters were a can of Coke, Megyn Kelly would be the generic brand version of it, only the soda is flat, warm and tastes funny.

Advertisement

Even if one were to concede that while giving Jones this sort of platform is troublesome, if nothing else, if you’re going to put him in the position to be seen by such a wide audience, why not wrap him around every bit of his ugliness, his callousness and his strong penchant for sounding like a liar and a damn fool all the time? There are plenty of journalists capable of doing that, but Megyn Kelly is not one of them.

Megyn Kelly failed a week ago with Vladimir Putin and she fell short once again with Alex Jones. However, for those of us who have seen Megyn Kelly over the years on Fox News, we’re very well aware of her being able to go hard against someone she is interviewing when it suits her. There are plenty of black guests who can vouch for this as Kelly tried to nail them while defending law enforcement, deflecting from addressing systemic racism or defending the honor of white Santa.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Now out of familiar terrain, she struggles. As of now, she doesn’t appear to have the range for the kind of show she wants and the sort of journalist she would like us to believe she is. Maybe she’ll get better, but in the meantime, it is not lost on me why she turned to Alex Jones for an interview.

She wanted a viral moment and she wanted to reach a very specific audience. An audience she most certainly is used to catering to. Unfortunately for her, she can’t have it both ways. Kelly either has to step it up and become the journalist she wants us to believe she is or return to the propagandist many of us have long concluded her to be.

Pick a side, pick a side.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Related Articles

Stay Connected

21,507FansLike
2,634FollowersFollow
17,200SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -spot_img

Latest Articles