Márquez-Greene also notes that the interview will air on Father’s Day.
Nicole Hockley co-founded Sandy Hook Promise after losing her 6-year-old, Dylan.
“Sandy Hook Promise cannot support the decision by Megyn or NBC to give any form of voice or platform to Alex Jones and have asked Megyn Kelly to step down as our Promise Champion Gala host,” she said in a statement on Monday. “It is our hope that Megyn and NBC reconsider and not broadcast this interview.”
“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,” Kelly wrote in a statement.
“President Trump, by praising him and citing him, appearing on his show [in 2015], and giving him White House press credentials, has helped elevate Jones, to the alarm of many.”
The White House has denied on two occasions that Jones’s InfoWars was given press credentials despite the host’s claims that he was provided them. InfoWars did gain a one-day press pass, however, which are relatively easy to obtain in this and past administrations.
“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,” Kelly concluded.
Kelly’s executive producer defended the decision to interview Jones, asking viewers to “judge it when you see it.”
“Viewers will see Megyn do a strong interview where she challenges him appropriately,” EP Liz Cole said. “That’s the benefit of putting him out there. When someone actually sits down and asks him questions and he has to come up with answers–there’s value to that.
“Until you see the full program, in the full context, I wouldn’t judge it too much. Judge it when you see it,” she added.
Was the decision to go ahead with Jones as a featured interview on Kelly’s show totally out of left field? No. Jones has a relatively large following, holds influence and therefore worth examination.
But there is a reason no other network has provided him this kind of stage before. And we’re seeing why play out this week in the form of outrage over this interview.
Christina Hassinger, whose mother was among the dead at Sandy Hook, had this to say on Twitter about Jones’ assertion that families of the victims were hired actors.
“This piece of actual garbage encourages people to call my mom’s death a hoax and harass other Sandy Hook families. Shame on you @MegynKelly.”
There’s an argument being made that murderers get interviewed all the time on such programs. But here’s the thing. The murderer almost never disputes that he or she committed the crime and therefore makes the conversation reality-based. Jones’s assertion is not and therefore doesn’t bring any value in “putting him out there.”
Jones, in an obvious attempt to create a hate-watching scenario, is now calling on Kelly to pull the interview for “misrepresenting my views on Sandy Hook.”
This is what happens when providing a person who peddles the worst kind of fiction a platform to share his “views” that have no basis in reality.
If NBC wants to protect its reported $17 million investment per year in Megyn Kelly, it will pull this interview.
And then they’ll apologize to the families of the victims of Sandy Hook for going ahead with it in the first place and reopening wounds that will never heal. In a related story, some of Jones’s followers are now harassing Sandy Hook parents on social media, demanding “evidence” the massacre actually occurred. It’s sick.
Anything short of that will be a PR disaster from which the host’s hard-earned reputation as a solid journalist may have difficulty recovering from.
Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) is a media reporter for The Hill.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.