‘RELEASE THE TAPES’: Sean Hannity freaks out at Megyn Kelly over ‘edited’ Alex Jones interview
On Sunday, NBC aired its much-ballyhooed interview with right-wing conspiracy monger and provocateur Alex Jones after a week of back-and-forth drama between Jones and the network and its new star Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News.
TheHill.com reported that after the interview aired, many journalists and fellow commentators lauded Kelly for the interview, in which she tried to pin Jones down about his “false flag attack” theories about the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.
“What happened to the children?” Kelly asked Jones, who stammered and equivocated and tried to change the subject before deciding that he was just trying to air “every angle” of the argument.
“If you’re unfamiliar with Alex Jones, and are watching this Megyn Kelly report, hard to imagine you walk away believing anything he says,” tweeted Kyle Blaine of CNN’s “K-File.”
“Watching @megynkelly interview with Alex Jones, I’m even more convinced that her piece wasn’t just ok to do, but important journalism,” said Mediaite.com’s Dan Abrams.
“#Megyn Kelly did more to expose the real Alex Jones and than anyone else on TV. Solid journalism,” agreed NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
Not everyone was impressed with Kelly’s work, however, notably her former coworker Sean Hannity, who joined Jones in decrying the segment and claiming the video was deceptively edited by Kelly and NBC.
Agree or disagree I say @NBCNews RELEASE THE TAPES. Let America decide. https://t.co/I4wQjaiWy9
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 19, 2017
Jones apparently recorded every one of his interactions with Kelly and has spent the week releasing the most unflattering moments he could find, including Kelly’s reassurances that the piece would not be “gotcha” journalism or a hit job.
Now, Jones wants to release the full, unedited footage of his conversation with Kelly and Hannity supports him.
What is @CNN afraid of? I have zero criticism of Megyn. Letting America see the entire interview is FAIR. Why does @NBCNews get to decide? https://t.co/e7JhC5yDbP
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 19, 2017
I'm siding against "edited fake news". @CNN owes me a retraction and apology. I should sue them for this. "LET AMERICA DECIDE". https://t.co/knQisULALm
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 19, 2017
Hannity has had some red-hot Twitter meltdowns over the last several months leading some to suspect that the stress of unconditionally boosting President Donald Trump even as Fox News seems to crumble around them both is getting to Hannity.
Last week, right-wing gossip site The Drudge Report’s founder Matt Drudge tweeted that he’s concerned about the stress on cable news personalities in the age of Trump.
“Tons of stress on cablenews as competition heats,” Drudge wrote to his followers. “Maddow and Tucker have recently been out on medicals. Another host appears heavily drugged.”
The tweet has since been deleted, but the consensus of commenters on the original post appeared to agree that Hannity is the host who Drudge alleges is acting “heavily drugged.”