Sandy Hook families criticize Megyn Kelly for Alex Jones interview

NBC host Megyn Kelly is being criticized by families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre for her forthcoming interview with Info Wars host Alex Jones, which is set to air on Father’s Day.

“We would like it to be publicly known that we are greatly disappointed in your decision to give Alex Jones airtime. Alex and his followers have done nothing but make our lives a living hell for the last 4 1/2 years,” read a note on the Facebook page of Victoria Soto, one of the teachers who was murdered in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, addressed to NBC and Kelly. “Every family picture has been stolen, dissected, & analyzed with complete falsehoods. Our friends have even had their pictures stolen and have been harassed by these Sandy Hook hoaxers. One of his followers, Matthew Mills, showed up at Vicki’s race, disrupted the race, harassed our family and was ultimately arrested. You can find videos online of Mills and Jones directly interacting. This incessant need for ratings at the cost of the emotional well-being of our family is disgusting and disappointing. You should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing this behavior. We hope you never are subjected to the kind of torture that Alex Jones and his followers inflict on us. One day we hope your conscience kicks in and you realize that there are real people on the other side of the tv screens watching you praise a man who has made our lives a living hell. We hope you never have to endure what we have at the hands of that man.”

“This piece of actual garbage encourages people to call my mom’s death a hoax and harass other Sandy Hook families. Shame on you,” wrote Cristina Hassinger, the daughter of the school’s deceased principal, Dawn Hochsprung, of Jones.

When someone tweeted at Kelly that her coverage risks legitimizing Jones and his conspiracies, Kelly responded that Jones has already been legitimized by President Donald Trump, who appeared on Jones’ show as a candidate back in December 2015 and recently granted InfoWars a White House press credential. “Many don’t know him; our job is 2 shine a light,” Kelly tweeted.

In a preview clip from the interview, Kelly does appear to push Jones on his Sandy Hook claims. When Jones tries to dodge responsibility for his claims (and the death threats Sandy Hook parents have received as a result) by pointing out that the mainstream American media doesn’t adequately cover, for instance, the victims of Middle Eastern famines, Kelly responded, “that doesn’t excuse what you did or said.”

Late Monday, Jones appeared on his Info Wars Facebook page to denounce the interview. The host said he did think the 20 children and six adults were killed during the massacre, but that “they were just using PR teams to go in there and exacerbate it and hype it up to get the maximum effect to blame the American people and blame gun owners for what happened.”

Kelly’s full interview with Jones airs on NBC on June 18. NBC had no comment.

Read tweets about the Jones interview below.