Did NBC’s Megyn Kelly promise no ‘hit piece’ on conspiracy-monger Alex Jones?

By Paul Farhi June 16 at 12:11 PM

Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of the far-right Infowars media operation, has posted excerpts of his pre-interview calls with NBC News’s Megyn Kelly in which she appears to promise that she will go easy on him in their upcoming television interview.

Jones, who agreed to the interview but has since demanded the segment not air, leaked audio of the surreptitiously recorded calls on YouTube and Infowars.com in an apparent effort to hold Kelly to her promise of a softer approach.

“My goal is for your listeners and the left, you know, who will be watching some on NBC, to say, ‘Wow, that’s really interesting,” she says on one of the recordings, which were edited by Jones. “It’s not going to be some ‘gotcha’ hit piece, I promise you that.”

Kelly’s interview with Jones, scheduled for Sunday night on her new magazine-style program, has been the subject of controversy for the past week. NBC and Kelly have been under fire for giving Jones — the progenitor of many bogus and outlandish claims — a prime-time spot to air his views. But NBC calls Jones a newsworthy figure who has received the endorsement of President Trump and that its report will accurately portray him.

Kelly said in one of the calls that she would allow Jones to see interview footage in advance, an unusual offer. TV journalists typically don’t show interviews to their sources before they air.

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