Overview
- SiriusXM users on Threads, X, TikTok and Reddit reported canceling subscriptions or urged boycotts after Kelly repeated a source’s claim that Jeffrey Epstein “was not a pedophile” and “liked 15-year-old girls.”
- Kelly reiterated that Epstein’s behavior was “sick” and “disgusting,” saying she was conveying distinctions raised by a person she described as very close to the case, whom she did not identify.
- Meghan McCain called the remarks “obviously insane” and criticized parsing of attraction to minors, noting that the term “barely legal” is not a legal definition.
- Former child actors and teens amplified criticism by posting images of themselves at 15 and asserting that 15-year-olds are children, with public figures including Cynthia Nixon, Christina Ricci and Valerie Bertinelli weighing in.
- Coverage emphasized that no U.S. state sets the age of consent at 15, with New York and Florida at 17 and 18 respectively, and noted Congress has advanced a bill to compel release of DOJ Epstein files, which Baptist News reported the Senate sent to the president’s desk with an indication he would sign.