Megyn Kelly slammed for questioning if Jeffrey Epstein was really a pedophile: ‘He was into the barely legal type’

Megyn Kelly is being slammed for questioning whether Jeffrey Epstein was even a pedophile, even though the disgraced financier was convicted on child sex offences.

Kelly’s critics have torn into her comments on social media, with some pointing to an interview she gave in 2018 in which she appeared to have a very different view.

While interviewing a victim of alleged abuse in 2018 on her show Megyn Kelly TODAY, the broadcaster went to great lengths to point out that “the age of consent in California is 18,” which means that “there’s no consenting for a 14 or even a 17-year-old in these circumstances.”

However, social media users have shredded a new claim former Fox News star made on The Megyn Kelly Show. On the November 13 episode of her show, she claimed that a friend of hers, with an inside view of the Epstein case, believed that Jeffrey Epstein was “not a pedophile.”

open image in gallery

“But that he was into the barely legal type,” Kelly continued. “Like, he liked 15-year-old girls. I realise this is disgusting, I'm definitely not trying to make an excuse for this, I’m just giving you facts.

“That he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds. But he liked the very young, teen types who could pass for even younger than they were but would look legal to a passerby.”

However, Kelly did not stop there. The host continued on her tangent by claiming that Attorney General Pam Bondi had said that Epstein had “tens of thousands of videos of alleged…child sexual abuse material on his computer.”

Kelly went on to say “that for the first time, I thought, ‘Oh, no, he was an actual pedophile,’” upon hearing Bondi’s claims, but subsequently took a swipe at the Attorney General by saying that she does not “trust” her.

Eventually, Kelly concluded her rant by saying, “So I don’t know what’s true about him, but we have yet to see anybody come forward and say, ‘I was eight, I was under 10, I was under 14, when I first came within his purview.’

“You can say that’s a distinction without a difference.”

When her guest, Batya Ungar-Sargon, said “no, it’s not,” Kelly insisted, “I think there is a difference.

“There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”

open image in gallery

The journalist’s bizarre claims have incensed the internet, with “Epstein” trending at #1 on X, alongside Megyn Kelly’s own name, on the morning of November 14.

Several posts have highlighted the apparent disparity between Kelly’s own comments.

“It cannot be remembered enough that these were the same people who got worked up about drag brunches,” wrote stand-up comedian Gianmarco Soresi.

“To all the weirdos defending @megynkelly: 15 year olds are underage, and that is statutory rape. Pretty simple,” another raged.

“He wasn’t a pedophile, he just liked 15-year-olds” is not the defense you think it is, Megyn,” one other social media user wrote.

Another X user, whose bio says that she is an “English teacher turned librarian,” wrote, “I teach 15-year-olds. They are literal children.”

open image in gallery

Kelly has yet to respond to the massive social media backlash publicly.

Her controversial comments came on the same day that the House Oversight Committee released another wave of records related to the Epstein case. In the emails, the convicted pedophile said that Donald Trump is “the dog that hasn’t barked,” and claimed that he “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop.”

The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has branded the affair as the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax.”

The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on whether the Department of Justice should release all of the files related to the Epstein case. The vote will take place next week.

The Independent has contacted Megyn Kelly for comment.