Megyn Kelly's NBC interview with Infowars' Alex Jones is not scheduled to air until Sunday, but it's already caused intense controversy.
Jones, whom the Washington Post has described as a "conspiracy-spewing" radio host, has long dismissed a gunman's shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. The gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza of Newtown, also killed his mother and himself.
Jones has called that massacre a government hoax. His critics say that by inviting him on "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly," Kelly was legitimizing his views.
Some personally affected by the Sandy Hook shooting decried both Kelly and NBC. Now, several organizations appear to be following suit.
Kelly will no longer host the Promise Champions Gala, an annual event for the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, a nonprofit gun violence prevention group founded by family members of some of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, the organization announced late Monday. The event is scheduled to be held Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
"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," Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of the organization, said in a statement. "It is our hope that Megyn and NBC reconsider and not broadcast this interview."
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that JPMorgan Chase pulled its local television and digital ads from all NBC News programming until after Sunday's interview airs. A company spokeswoman declined the Post's request for comment on the report.
Earlier Monday, the company's chief marketing officer, Kristin Lemkau, tweeted, "As an advertiser, I'm repulsed that @megynkelly would give a second of airtime to someone who says Sandy Hook and Aurora are hoaxes. Why?"
