Overview
- On Tucker Carlson’s show, Kelly called white nationalist Nick Fuentes “very smart” and said listeners should “excuse his thoughts on race, and Jews, and the Holocaust.”
- Kelly defended Carlson’s decision to interview Fuentes, saying she believed he approached it with a “pure heart” and that some of Fuentes’s messaging has “value.”
- She also backed Candace Owens for raising questions that suggested possible Israeli involvement in Charlie Kirk’s death, saying she was “totally fine” with those questions.
- Critics from the right and center-right denounced Kelly’s comments, with Commentary’s John Podhoretz, The Spectator’s Ben Domenech, Dave Rubin, and investor Cliff Asness among those blasting her.
- Responding to fallout highlighted in new reports, Kelly argued she was explaining Fuentes’s appeal to young men and said she was not endorsing his views on Jews, women, or Black people, even as Fuentes’s record of Holocaust denial and praise for Adolf Hitler was reemphasized.